


A Retired Officer's Shop In The Eastern Wonderland

by EXPNewLight (ex995)



Category: Touhou Project
Genre: F/F, F/M, Harems, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-29
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:06:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 23,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23372149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ex995/pseuds/EXPNewLight
Summary: Officer Desmond Howard only wanted to open a game store in the small town, so why does he have to deal with monsters destroying the shop and a thieving witch? And what's this about not killing anyone? And when exactly did he and his new shop get transported into this wonderland? Welp one thing is for sure, he ain't going to be bored at the very least. (Standard Harem Warning) Average word count is 2500 words per chapter, usualy.
Kudos: 5





	1. The Retirement Of The Police Chief

A/N: (Note/Disclaimer) All recognizable objects and characters belong to their respective owners. Mainly Team Shanghai Alice for Touhou Project or, as per usual, my own characters belonging to me.

Note 2:And another new story, don't worry it won't be a replacement to Warped Commander though it might change my writing schedule. On another note I have no idea why I create characters in positions of power...

("Common Language [English for this chapter]/Speech")

('Foreign Languages')

(" _Thoughts (In their own native tongue)"_ )

**(Attacks/Weapon names)**

(Other/Foreign/ Speech & Text/Book/Scroll)

_ (Actions/POV) _

_ **(Titles** _ **/** _ **Flashback/Time/Dates/Place)** _

(Narration & Everything else)

**('Demonic Speech')**

**("Demonic Thoughts")**

**A Retired Officer's Shop In The Eastern Wonderland Chapter 1**

_**Park County, Colorado, United States of America: Magias Police Department, Central US Branch** _

_**August 7th, 2113: 1900** _

_Third Person: Omni_

"Happy Retirement Desmond" The loud applause after the use of those words centered upon a rather young looking man with black hair and green eyes in the sea of men and women in uniform.

A uniform of which consisted of jackets from navy to black and inscribed on them the letters MPD, a range of dark-colored pants yet with a lighter colored undershirt to offset the dark. But one thing that they all had were gloves with glowing blue machinery in the back and vambrace strapped to their arms with a glowing blue line running along the outside edge. Though the gloves had some variance in themselves. On their belts, they carried a pistol, baton, and a medical kit. None wore hats, mainly because it would be disrespectful to the person they were congratulating.

"So, Chief, what are you going to do now that you're out of the force?" Asked one of the crowd, a young woman with blond hair and blue eyes, to the young(?) man with a slight excitement in her tone. And with that heard he just scratched the back of his head with a sheepish smile and said.

"I kinda wanted to have a game shop in a small town." The other party-goers looked at him in a slight amount of surprise. Who would expect the uptight police chief to game often? Though they all knew that he is fairly well off for someone that keeps a modest living. It was no surprise considering they had known he bought the force and close friends fairly expensive gifts and paid for new, state of the art gear.

"I'm not that harsh, considering it was me who was kinda strong armed into it." He commented with a roll of his eyes and a gloved hand holding his face. It was true for both his advancement of position and the start of his protection career. It quite literally laid at his feet as someone told him to pick it up and start. Several of the more veteran members just chuckled lightly at that admission while the new blood just looked slightly confused.

"May as well start off on my actual speech." He idly comments with a slightly dry tone as he looks at the space around him. With that all the people silence themselves and move back a few steps, creating a circle around the former highest authority of the department.

(TOUHOU PROJECT)

"Well then, I know that a good portion of you are searching for some profound knowledge while others are just waiting for the festivities and food after this, not that I can blame you." He opens up to the embarrassed faces of more than a few people in the crowd.

"I'm not going to say anything 'bout my wisdom, I am only 65 years old after all. And for about 20 of them have no idea what the hell I was doing." He, with that comment, got more than a few rounds of laughter.

"I have been in service for over 40 years, half of which have been in this position. And within the first 2 years, I resolved one of the worst incidents to happen as of this date." All people nod at that tidbit.

"In my time, I have trained quite a few of you and experienced the loss of many who fought bravely." A moment of silence passes after the mentioning of the ones lost under his time.

"While I may live longer than all of you, and may never see any of your faces again. I'd like to say this, we resolve conflicts ranging from unallied invaders and the supernatural beings of those within our confines. We may be the defenders of a single place in this world we call home but our organization expands massively across the universe." All of them stood straighter, at attention and ready for what is next.

"We have sworn our lives to protect innocents and many of our brothers and sisters in arms have paid it so our peace is long-reaching. I while not passing on have spent a good majority of my own life to this cause." A nod passes around the people, they knew the moment they were chosen that they would have their lives set for the people, even if they denied it in the first place.

"In the end I am retiring, leaving behind active duty and shifting it to the new generation. But that doesn't give me a choice regarding my wisdom, that will only grow from now, and giving parts of it to you, and the new leaders after me." Many of them smiled at that, he wouldn't be fully leaving them and would be there if needed. He raised the glass in his hand, filled with a drink of caffeine and not an alcoholic beverage, they still had work after this.

"To us, the defenders, to us, the watchers of the hidden world, to us, the hidden, and lastly, to us, the peace speakers." And with that said they all raised their glasses.

"To you, Desmond Howard, hero chief of the Magias Police." They said those words with extreme power, giving applause to the man. He could only smile behind his filled vessel in response.

(TOUHOU PROJECT)

"All right, all right, back to work everyone, we are still on call for another hour until the night watch comes." Desmond remarks after seeing them all down the drink so quickly. He just chuckles lightly at the sight. A young man with black hair, white eyes, blue skin walks up to him in a calm pace.

"Its been a while Halsev." Desmond remarks to him, now that everyone was back to their stations and standing by for their calls, someone could talk to him in relative peace. Tha man noded, one of the few people that knew him when he first got on the force.

"Hello, Chief." He greets with a total monotone voice, though that did nothing to Desmond's knowledge that he was being teased about his position. One of the few people who were before him, at least on earth. Considering his race's longevity, it makes sense.

"So what do you want to talk about?" Ben asks from behind his bare desk, it has been a while since its been this clean… hey is that a coffee stain from 10 years ago?

"Here" He just throws a set of keys over to the man who only had 10 minutes till he leaves his post.

"So, what are these?" With a simple movement, the muted sound of several keys jangling came from his gloved hand. He took a moment to look at the ring of unlocking devices, the shining bronze and silvers dancing in his eyes. They may be outdated to all hell, but Earth still uses them despite being easily replicate able and frustrating to use. In all fairness, the ones in his hand look like they are fairly hard keys to replicate.

"The keys to your new store over in Arizona." Green eyes widen in shock at that statement. He was about to speak but a gesture of the outsider stopped him.

"We knew that you would go out and buy one, so in the past 5 years, we bought some land and built one over there. You don't think Eve doesn't know what you search up?" The brightening of glow from the gloves shows the response. All for his eyes to start tearing up.

"You know you didn't hav-" Desmond was once again cut off, this time by a light female voice.

"You have done quite alot partner, don't place yourself down. While the others have left and you held down the fort, we kinda made a fund for your shop to gift you later. Well… before you decided to draft your plans for it." Her remarks made quite a bit of sense considering what he went through just to keep the world unconquered when he had the chance to just let them raze the world to the ground.

"That and all the presents to the other members, really, paying off their mortgages and mysteriously sending checks when they were in dire spots? We all knew that it was you." Desmond could only respond with scratching his cheek.

"It was the least we could do considering how much you've done, and that's just for us alone. Not counting the force itself, Mr. Mysterious Benefactor." They all just laughed lightly at that one. It wasn't even a well-kept secret among the force, almost all of them knew that it was him with the several thousand dollars donation last year.

"It is not like I need all that money." The man behind several upgrades to the department decides to say. And with that, the long-lived man just stares at him with a deadpan stare, how he did it without pupils and an emotionless face is sure a mystery of the world.

"You are immortal, and will stay in this universe for virtually the end of time. Considering that magias energy is infinite and matter creation is perfected nowadays, we basically have stars that will never die and worlds that will not exhaust resources, you would never have to move planet." At that admission, Desmond just chuckled sheepishly, he had never really thought of that.

In the late 2020's they found magias energy, and at the time they already knew how to synthesize matter from energy and matter back to energy. His own magias generators could produce several miracles on their own… though his are an exception and they have been massively improved. Even the current generation, generation 10, the generators would not be able to produce enough energy in a short enough time in order to cause a miracle.

"Yeah, I have it bad don't I."

"Yep," Both their voices respond.

"So, who funded the store?" He asked them with a calm smile.

"Well, you have all of the old patrol team, the people you personally saved, and Rena who funded about half from her research," Eve remarked from her place." Ben looked slightly surprised at the list or at least one part of the statement.

"Rena paid half? I know that using Eve led to a lot of discoveries but damn." Desmond remarks with a tone soaked in surprise.

"That and she left your old set back over there." The monotone response gives a bit more showing of the gifts he has there.

"My old combat set?" Desmond had his voice in a bit of a wistful note.

"Yep, said that you may as well have them considering that they are keyed in on you." Was the finishing remark that Halsev just turns around and leaves, not even taking the time to bother with a leaving gesture. Desmond just gives out a sigh at the actions of his former squadmate.

"Usual Halsev. Well, Eve, I'm guessing that you have the directions to my new shop?" Ben asks the intelligence of his Mobius Generators.

"Yes, and don't worry about the paperwork, I decided to fill that in your stead. We are the same legal entity considering your not married." The crisp response of the lady in the gloves was efficient in its nature, with only the slightest hints of warmth.

"Alright, I'll go over there tomorrow." And with that, the police chief went back to signing the last of his paperwork, mainly to finalize his replacement and stop that darned idea of putting vending machines in the kitchen area, they did not have enough room for it at the moment still.

(TOUHOU PROJECT)

_**Small Town Outskirts In Arizona** _

_**August 8th: 1600** _

_Third Person: Desmond_

A jacketed person rode up to the rather large building upon a sleek motorcycle. A predominantly black body with large glowing blue lines running along with no real sense of direction, yet all of them originated from the two Mobius Generators implanted in it.

"So… do I have somewhere to park? As much as id love to have her outside and that she is theft-proof, id kinda like her to be clean." His muffled remark comes off as he sits in the saddle. A simple message comes across his visor for a door to open up.

"Right then." He starts off again to get inside the garage. It is a rather simple place, tall enough for a lift to be used on a car. Of which one is already parked. He pushes off and sets his transport inside its personal bay. And with that put away, he gets off and brings the helmet off his head, revealing his fair skin and identity to the limited world.

"So do you got a map?" He asks as he brings out a pair of glasses from one of the jacket's interior pockets. While he did know the layout in his blueprint, they might have changed it. With that, he places it on his face and…

"Scout Sight: Start-Up" He says with a calm tone, the command filters through the air, and with it, his world lights up with binary for a second, then settles back down to the augmented world. In the bottom right of his vision, he could see a minimap of the area.

He silently steps through his new abode and retirement gift, taking a gander at the tooling of the personal garage. He notes the high quality tools and systems that you would see in commercial repair centers, some not even the latest of labs would have.

"Is that a matter generator?" His curiosity got to him in that moment of weaving his sight through the area. In the corner of the room stands a fairly large machine, with its metallic door closed, a black gradient applied to the body, it looks like the model that Rena has in her own personal lab. Opening up the thing reveals a space of 5 feet by 5 feet, showing that a majority of it must be embedded in the wall.

"Yep, the newest yet most stable model made by Rena herself during one of her sleep creation bouts." Yep, that sounds about right to him, while yes, she is one of the brightest people in the world, her most sophisticated creations were made when she was literally asleep. Such as his own combat kit, but most especially the gloves on his hand the bike that he rode here were made in one of those nights. The current generation was only able to have 40% effectiveness of his generation 0 gear.

"Welp lets go to the next room." He simply states after not finding else worth mentioning in the garage. And with that he opens the door to the hallway, making sure to lock it after getting into the hall. After walking a bit more down he finds another door, this one labeled "Game Room 0" and opens it.

"I'm guessing they added several more rooms?" His eyes gaze into the room. A table holds a tv upon its top but it would seem that the cord doesn't go through the table, it just runs along with one of the legs. After inspecting it for a bit, it would seem that it is able to interact with the basically archaic format: HDMI 1, USB versions from 1 till current, etc. On a shelf, several game consoles sit calmly, all ready to play a game once the setup process has been done. Their controls wait for the connection on the bottom shelf. A sofa at just in front of it facing the TV, and several chairs sit stacked in the corner.

"Yes, however, this hallway is your personal hall, if you were to walk the other way you would encounter stairway to residential areas in the next floor and basement." He nods at that, noting another shelf with some board games and books, though not much.

"I'm guessing I have an actual living room in the room above." A note of confirmation pops up and fades on the top right corner of his vision. He moves out into the hall once again and walks further down it to the stairs and another door just before it.

Word Count: ~2,800

Date Finished: 3/27/20

Note: What's this? A new story in the new year? Well then, I had just a bit of time to write this and the plot bunny kicked my ass here. I am in no way experienced in the Touhou Fandom so feedback is appreciated, though I still am on hiatus. Though I can still answer questions and respond to things.


	2. Of Investigations And Bullet Hells

A/N: (Note/Disclaimer) All recognizable objects and characters belong to their respective owners. Mainly Team Shanghai Alice for Touhou Project or, as per usual, my own characters belonging to me.

Note 2:Ho? What's this? Another chapter? So soon from a person still on hiatus?

("Common Language [Japanese in this case]/Speech")

('Foreign Languages')

(" _Thoughts (In their own native tongue)"_ )

**(Attacks/Weapon names/SFX)**

(Other/Foreign/ Speech & Text/Book/Scroll)

_ (Actions/POV) _

_ **(Titles** _ **/** _ **Flashback/Time/Dates/Place)** _

(Narration & Everything else)

**('Demonic Speech')**

**("Demonic Thoughts")**

**A Retired Officer's Shop In The Eastern Wonderland Chapter 2**

_**Desmond's Still Unnamed Game Store** _

_**?: 1645** _

_Third Person: Desmond_

"Connection to the outside world terminated, connection to onboard ark standing by. Connected," With a sudden jerk of his vision, those words came out from Eve as the glasses changed in tint to a rose. The sudden feeling of movement causes the stumble of the newly minted store owner, though he rights himself quickly, which is quite good considering the tiled flooring of the kitchen before him.

"Eve, imidate dimensional rift check, priority black." Desmond states with a strained tone, he should be fairly used to vertigo caused by dimensional shifts, but for some reason, this was just so much worse. He leans on the frame of the door as a support, keeping his lunch and breakfast down in his stomach where it should be. A beep from his glasses signifies that his artificial partner was working on it. After counting his measured breaths he finely felt his nausea abate.

"An unusually large quantity of void fragments detected, the entire building has been transported to an unknown dimension, attempting reboot of data tethers." Any tone of warmth was gone from Eve's voice, all systems were pointed at the recovery efforts.

"Shift Priority, establish perimeter visual. I get the feeling this is not the usual displacement." Desmond stands up straight as he said the order, immediately turning away from the kitchen and closing the door.

"Priority shift confirmed by Operator Desmond, establishing visual of the perimeter. Recommendation: Operator Desmond, please move to the storefront." He nods to no one as he once more before he moves down the hall, opposite of the personal quarters.

(TOUHOU PROJECT)

_**?: ?** _

_**?: 1645** _

_Third Person: ?_

Her golden eyes cracked open at the sudden change in the world. Her lazily sprawled out body and hair in disarray did nothing to her beauty, though some may say this look suits her more.

"Ho, another variable? How fun. I'll just send Ran over." Her alluring voice holds quite a bit of mischievous intent, though far below the surface so that only glint could be seen, just a drop of calculation. She shifts her casual clad body into a more comfortable position as a tear started to rip through the air, opening up a crack of black and eyes. Her eyes then widen after a few seconds of doing… something.

"How strange…" Her tone got a bit colder as several ideas started to go through her head, and were then dismissed.

_**The Shop** _

"Reality intrusion deflected." Eve's tone was still quite mechanical as she kept most of her computing power around the shop.

"So they installed a reality anchor here." Desmond remarks as he walks forward to the storefront, his steps ringing out through the silent hallway. The tilled floor was dark and had the shine of being recently polished. It contrasted quite well with the pale cream walls, undecorated at the moment, though he would change that sooner or later.

"They can prevent intrusions of up to a yard from the building." Her voice got quite a bit warmer than before, she is most likely diverting back to her usual objectives as she finishes the most pressing issues.

"Do we have a visual of the outside world?" Noting the tonal shift and getting the message behind it, Desmond asks about the main objective that he assigned.

"Visual is impaired by a red fog, I am currently analyzing it and running tests on its effects. Recommendation: is to wear riding helmet when deploying." Eve's reply was only a second after his own question. Desmond nods in response while taking off his glasses and placing them within his inner jacket pocket.

"How good are the air ventilation and filtration? Transport." He shifts his gloved hands up to a device strapped to his jacket and taps it when he spoke the last word. His eyes showed a strong disposition.

"All systems are working at 100 percent, the mist would only make it about a foot in before being purified. The filters will need to be replaced after this." Eve quietly checks through the many systems of the building. Materializing in his hands was a helmet with a one-way glass pane.

"Alright the-," A sudden boom sounded off from the outside of the premises causing the young-looking man to straighten up after just getting the thing situated.

"I'm going to check that out, send Mel out front." Desmond quickens his pace at the certainly alarming sound.

"Command acknowledged. Sending Mobius Engine 0: Mel to the storefront. Analyzing distance… Finding a singularity point using acoustic imaging… Detonation location found. Placing on map." The shift of the visor confirmed that he was already in Scout Sight. The map in the right-most bottom corner of his vision was blank save for the dot representing the pinged location and the building he was in at this very moment.

The chime that signifies the door opening sounds out to the now empty business. Upon seeing the outside world Desmond quirked a brow, from what it seems, the mist is not all that dense considering that sunlight is not filtering through. In fact, even if he did not have his augmented sight he would still be able to see clearly.

"Mobius Circuits... Confirmed, Mobius Generators... Confirmed, Checking Status… All Systems Ready, Identity… Confirmed." The female voice of the two-wheeled transport reviled that it was close to arriving, though his sight could already confirm it. With a backflip jump, he was on the saddle and scanning the area for paths.

"That.. is a lot of ley lines…" He blinks a few time while adjusting his position. Roads of blue run along with the earth and skies, twisting and turning yet still having a distinct pattern. The blue lines on his own bike glowed even brighter, as particles of light started flying off of the wheels as they spun even faster.

Riding along the lines invisible to the eyes of many, he travels quickly to the source of the sound. Though no one on his way there raised a brow in surprise at the flying object. Twists and sudden turns flash by his vision as he gains momentum, to any other man it would have given a sense of vertigo.

"Still got it." He silently remarks, it has been quite some time since he used the ley lines for transport, they mainly had him on planes whenever they wanted him to travel long distances.

_**Scarlet Devil Mansion** _

_**?: 1700** _

_Third Person: Omni_

"So you turned them against one another." A young woman with her black hair tied into a ponytail remarks as they watch the two young? girls flying around and firing off bullets of energy at one another. Floating beside her is another lass with fair skin, blue eyes, and blond tresses. Her black witches outfit had a white apron and frills, the actual skirt going down to her knees, along with the same style hat with a white ribbon tied onto its base. Her golden eyes stare up at the sibling quarrel while she rides her broom in a sideways orientation, her black boot-clad feet kicking.

"You never involve me in anything!" Screams the blond girl fighting, her "wings" of what look to be wood flaring behind her, the crystals of many different colors swaying along with the movement. Her red dress flowed along with the wind, though it did nothing for the mist surrounding them, a red vest obscuring the top of the dress from view, the skirt of it would have reached her knees if not for the wind battering it around. Her short blond hair was tied into a ponytail oriented to her left and then hidden from the world by a white mob cap with a red ribbon tied to it. Her feet were in red flats with white socks only reaching her ankles, just below her calves.

_**Back On The Ground** _

Desmond stares at what could only be described as bullet hell happening above him before looking down at his sidearm, he decided it would probably be a better idea not to get involved unless he has a different firearm style with him. That particular idea was also in line with seeing the entire battle take place while he was riding on a lay line before going onto the ground as to be less likely to be hit by stray fire.

He glances at the woman on the ground, her long scarlet hair splayed around her. A green beret layed a bit away, probably blown off by the attack on her. Two braids were tied with the end having black ribbons, framing her face. Her green dress fanned around her body, still quite modest though her breasts still strained the fabric. The dress itself was styled in a Chinese style and the beret had a golden start upon it. Inscribed on that star was the Chinese character for dragon: Long. Her breathing is even, no sign of higher than the usual level of labor for an unconscious person.

'May as well come out.' He says aloud, slightly muffled by his helmet, it has been a long enough time of inaction for them to not be a likely threat. A young woman in a maid uniform steps through the gate to the large mansion, her silver hair held by the white headpiece. The uniform's dress was a blue, most likely one closer to navy, and had white frills along with the same color of apron. She also had her hair with two braids to frame her face. The skirt reached down to the middle of her thighs, with her legs and feet clad in a pair of high-heel boots. All of it looked predominantly like the french maid outfit. Her red eyes look at him with a passive note, though it is certain that she has no hostility in her movements.

'Hello…' Her trailing off gives the signal of wanting to know the identity of the man before her. Not that she could tell anything from him, she has over a hundred years of reading body movements, though she could never really understand others…

'I'm a (Retired) officer of the Magius Police Department.' He decided not to give his name, for now, they'll be in contact anyway, after all, their residences are not too far apart. She nods at that, though he could tell that there was a bit of disconnect.

'Mr. Officer, I am Sakyua Izayoi." Her voice was calm, though she stumbed a bit with the pronunciation of "officer"… strange. It seemed to be a forign word to her… how was that? And her accent was strange as well. Neither of them sounded like it came from the current world. For himself, his accent could be placed more with the twenty-first-century style of English, more or less around the 2010s, which is particularly different from the current day's accent. It could be assumed to be an older way of speaking…

Another boom racks the air as the twin girls now turn to the other two flying persons before starting their attacks. Though neither of them was anywhere close to hear what they are saying. So is the price of staying away from danger.

"So, what is the situation?" He asks rather plainly from beside the unconscious lady. His eyes shift away from the beautiful shower of bullets that were most likely inefficient as hell, still extremely pretty though. She nods before opening her mouth to say something but…

 **Bang.** The sudden shot of his sidearm stopped her from speaking, and the stray bullet that would have hurt, to say the least. And if it was let be then it would have hit the young woman in front of him. He then once again holsters it, noting that she stiffened up quite a bit. Though judging by her posture before he shot, she already knew of the bullet coming towards her body. He just motions her to speak.

'Yes, my twin mistresses are currently fighting the two interlopers in a spell card battle.' Desmond raised a brow at the last three words, so that was what the thing was called.

'The blond witch busted into the area, first defeating Hong Meling, who is on the ground beside you, before getting inside and finding the younger mistress. The priestess then came in as well before I fought her, she then proceeded to defeat me before hearing an explosion and going to investigate the outside.'

'Spell card battle?' He asks a question which would have a relatively standard answer by the way she talked about fighting so casually.

'A set of rules placed by the shrine maiden that allows fighting with minimal repercussions. Any attack inflicted in one will be healed after the battle is over and a winner decided. Though the standard is beating one another till one is unconscious The winner can do anything to the loser under the rules.' She quickly gave a brief explanation of the system that Desmond was quite unfamiliar with. He looks at the lass on the ground, so that is how she is still alive. Considering the amount of damage those bullets could cause, it would have been fatal if the rules had not been set in place.

'So what about the red mist, I'm starting to think that it's due to your side.' He remarks while piecing the pieces together. If the Miko placed the rules, it goes without saying that she doesn't want destruction everywhere, and the witch is fighting alongside her so that marks her off the list of suspects.

'Yes, Mistress Remila decided that she wanted to walk around without sunlight.' He nods slightly, they are definitely not human beings, so he searches through his memory of western monsters that were weak to light. The main one that came to mind was vampires, and those wings did not help in hiding that identity, though the blond did not have the wings that you would expect.

'I'm guessing there is some more meaning in spell cards?' He asks after a few seconds of deliberation, it would be a good idea to get information now before he ends up in over his head. Though with how it is going now, he is probably going to be dragged in no matter what he does. Not like it matters anyway, he is retired after all.

'Yes, spell cards are special attacks that represent the user in some way. Like the one, they are using now.' She nods to the overhead battle of twin vampires, a witch, and a shrine maiden.

'Thank you for the answers, though I'll be staying till they come down.' She opens her mouth to say something before she stops and nods. Desmond decides to just sit on the grass while watching the battle overhead.

Word Count: ~2,500

Date Completed: 4/5/20

Note: And finished for this chapter, not going too in-depth with the battle and decided to make this a very information dump of a chapter. I hope you all enjoyed it.


	3. A Pleasant Chat Over Tea

A/N: (Note/Disclaimer) All recognizable objects and characters belong to their respective owners. Mainly Team Shanghai Alice for Touhou Project or, as per usual, my own characters belonging to me.

Note 2:

("Common Language [Japanese in this case]/Speech")

(‘Foreign Languages’)

(" _ Thoughts (In their own native tongue)" _ )

**(Attacks/Weapon names)**

(Other/Foreign/ Speech & Text/Book/Scroll)

_ (Actions/POV) _

**_(Titles_ ** **/** **_Flashback/Time/Dates/Place)_ **

(Narration & Everything else)

**('Demonic Speech')**

**("Demonic Thoughts")**

**A Retired Officer’s Shop In The Eastern Wonderland Chapter 3**

**_????????: Scarlet Devil Mansion_ **

**_????: 1750_ **

_ Third Person: Omni _

“So, how is the tea?” The only man among them asks from below his met. The reflection of the maid off of his visor was shown to all, though they never saw the face under it. The four combatants are now grounded with sheepish expressions on their faces. Though it’s mainly his tone of voice that does that to people. His arms are crossed in front of him as he observes them.

The Miko wears her uniform strangely from a standard unfirm that most would see when they go to the shrines. A red sleeveless top rests on her medium built frame, a white-collar hides her neck as it is tied with a yellow ribbon. Her red skirt holds a few white accents at the end. A pair of white sleeves are fastened to just above her biceps with a red cord, it also holds a red inner lining. Her dark brown hair that looks almost black is tied in place with a red ribbon with her side locks confined in tubes of the same color, though a majority of the hair is free-flowing. Her eyes are brown with a reddish tint that might be from the mist, considering he saw Sakyua’s eyes slowly going to a steel grey as time goes by. Her youthful face is rather laidback for the supposed guardian of this world.

The vampiric mistress, who is probably over a century old at the very least, has her lavender hair covered by a pastel pink mob cap with a darker pink ribbon tied to it. Her crimson red eyes show far more devious natures than one would expect from a young-looking girl. Her petit statue is clad in a pink dress of the same shade as her mob cap. From her back, she has a pair of black wings, most close to a bat’s appendages. She also has an unnatural grace in her movements, whether from the boost of dexterity from being a vampire or having centuries of practice is a question of debate to whoever sees her.

They situated themselves within the seats in the sitting room, or at least one of them. It is actually quite bright in a room without any natural ambient light, a design choice that is quite clear when thinking of the inhabitants. The masked man leans on the door frame while the former combatants sit upon the ornate armchairs of rosewood and high-quality fabric with rich colors. The walls were made with dark wood paneling, carved into ornate patterns that dazzled the viewer. The white-haired man stands off to the side as she already placed cups of tea in front of the seated guests and mistresses.

_ “I feel way too underdressed for this meeting, which is saying something considering that half of the attendees are a skinship Miko and the young witch.” _ Desmond thought to himself in a self-deprecating manner. He always did have trouble when going to social calls in his 6-decade long life. And he was in no shortage of events he was forced to attend, both as a hero to the world and the police chief. 

“Here is your chair.” The red-haired woman that was knocked unconscious arrived with another armchair from who knows where. Though I get the distinct feeling that they could have used some sort of supernatural ability to create another armchair. Though looking at the blond witch, magic is quite the possibility in this world. A quick movement from myself has me sitting with a cup of freshly brewed tea in hand to nurse on. Now that he actually looks, he could guess the ages of the two other guests being sixteen. Mainly from their personality and of course, the physical appearance. Though until they say anything, he will hold out from assuming they are of that age. Especially considering the silver-haired maid looks to be in the range of 16 and 17.

“Thank you, Meiling you may return to your post.” The youthful voice from the young-looking lass with lavender hair is entrancing to hear, however much from the charm of being a vampire is up to debate. What it did do that was not for much of a debate was that it was getting the attraction of Desmond, especially with his body being physically around 18-20 years old. The only thing that kept him from going after her, was her unmatured body that looked about 11-12 years old and his unprecedented self-control, though his helmet held its small part. 

Though thinking of them as children or treating them in such a manner would be spelling a death sentence. Immature bodied immortals tend not to like to be belittled about their maturity, though they might allow those close to treating them as such once in a while. It is good to act spoiled once in a while. Personalities of immortals and those with sufficient strength have had quite a few quirks somewhere in there. Like extreme lazy tendencies, mass pervertedness, or immaturity that did not befit their form and age being the more common ones. Sufficient strength being defined as enough to take down mountains or something close to that scale. Even his own dream of wanting to retire into having a games shop in the middle of a small town could be considered a quirk of his. In many ways, it takes something to be strong and immortal, most who get there are often a little bit mentally broken, whether it be due to the circumstances that surround their ascension or the ability itself causing it.

He notes her gaze, a flicker of refined predatory thoughts are reflected off of them as she observed his minute movements with the centuries of experience that she holds. Though amusement takes far more of a front seat in regards to her current motives. Though the most giving card of his emotions is covered via his helmet. He forcibly relaxed into the chair, though keeping the sense to stay on guard around these beings. In the time that it took to relax his nerves slightly, a cup of tea was already set infront of him. He took a glance at the maid without moving his head the slightest, her trolly is now empty of cups.

A silent movement of him drawing the teacup to his lips to take a drink reminds him of the helm that blocked him from the outside world. The amused smiles from all around the table were different in many ways. Sakuya only quirked her lips slightly, Lady Scarlet had her eyes smiling slightly, the Miko also quirked her lips but in a more obvious manner than the well-trained maid, the witch was outright grinning along with the other blond of the room. It was his unconscious movement that broke the stale atmosphere of the room, the price only being his embarrassment. Though he offered his own chuckle of embarrassed amusement from his unconscious actions. Though it looks opaque from the outside, his view is mostly unimpaired besides the HUD that Eve uses to commune with him.

“Glad I’m the one to mess up first.” His own sarcasm was bleeding into his words in a manner that no one would be so oblivious to never note. With that, the blonds broke out into laughter. He gazes at the presumably younger vampire, her response is extremely genuine to him, and her movements unrefined as she picks up her cup and takes a sip of the drink. All of her movements are rough as if she never has needed them to be refined, even as a lady of a presumably noble house such as this. None of the mannerisms that she shows scream out that she is an elegant lady, no, they only show an inexperienced person, almost a child level of straight forward thoughts. But she handles the items she carries with a high amount of care, almost as if she was scared that they would break apart in her hands.

It was all in a contrast to her sister, while her voice and outward-facing personality were that of a child, along with her interest seeking in boredom, her movements are graceful with a polish that would take many years to refine. Along with so much more patience than any child would ever have.

The Miko (If Ben were, to be honest with himself, he really needs to ask their names) was far less refined when compared to the oldest being in the room, but still held quite a bit of grace in her movements, though it is a bit rough when handling the western style teacup, which makes sense considering she is a priestess from Japan.

The witch was surprisingly graceful when handling her tea, especially considering where exactly we are on the world map. It pegged him that her movement would match up with someone who drinks western tea often, with a friend most likely, for multiple years considering the habitual movements that spoke of her unique personality.

The most graceful was of course the servant of the mansion. When you take into account of her being the face of the house, it makes sense that she would be as elegant as she is. Always ready with the pot when the cups need refilling, though it was about instantaneous in how it happened. An occurrence that happens so often that Desmond has a sneaking suspicion her abilities being the manipulation of time, especially with the pocket watch she has on her. But her attention seems not to be here at the moment even if she looks like she is engaged in the conversation.

“Now, as the mediator, mainly because I am the only one not fully involved in combat, shall we begin the discussion?” My accent in Japanese was probably fairly unrecognizable to them considering I learned it from my own time. The air turned a tiny bit more serious at the announcement of Desmond. Remila’s crimson eyes glinting in the lights of the room as she watches the humans.

“Yeah, what exactly was up with the red mist?” It was the witch that asked, and not the eastern religious officiator who at the moment, showed a bored expression on her face. Though it was the eyes that betrayed her interest. The blond vampire also looks with a bit of interest, though that was more for the reaction of the other mansion residents.

“So that I can travel in the day of course.” Her flippant response from behind the beverage holder was the sudden attack to them. And if it were honest, it is a pretty annoying reason if you have to deal with these kinds of problems often. Especially considering that he could see the comical tick mark appear over the executor’s head.

“Oi! Don’t just go causing inconveniences to everyone just so you can avoid and easily avoided inconvenience.” With that, red and violet collide as the Miko starts grappling with the mistress of the home. The witch and idle vampire break out into laughter at the supposed reason with Sakuya just sighing as she poured some tea into the cups at a visible speed this time.

“I’ll be going then.” With a quick hop off her seat, the blond quickly runs out of the room while they were distracted. It took a few seconds after she left with her broom until I heard yelling from a place farther into the mansion along with the now-iconic sounds of danmaku. And the other blond in the room just sat and laughed at the two.

And in the same amount of time, the two left the room to have a spell card battle outside, thankfully for them, it was night out at the moment. In all of it, I get the feeling that this would happen fairly often all things considering. Desmond sets his own cup down, though he never took a sip of it.

“Thank you for your hospitality. I get the feeling that things won’t be going back to a quiet peace for you.” Desmond turns to the elegant maid with a nodding movement. He turns back to find that the immature lass is staring at him in interest now.

“By the way, what is your name?” He remarks it was getting kind of annoying to not have names for the faces that he would most likely be meeting on a regular basis. Especially now that they are the only ones he knows at the moment. It's not like it's urgent to get back to his universe.

“Flandre Scarlet.” She was actually a little shy now that he focused his attention to her. Considering that he was the only man of the room as well as human, it didn’t surprise him all that much in that regard. She stood up to give a rather grateful curtsy considering her inexperience. He walks towards her and pats her head with a comfortable gait.

“Stay good will ya, you can come to visit me if you want to.” As Sakuya decided to disappear for the moment, he decided that it wouldn't do much harm to introduce himself. I take off his helmet, revealing his rather young face to the only other person in the sitting room. A small smile on his face as she stares, entranced by his face.

“My name is Desmond Howard, just your average games shop owner.” He smiles as he winks at her. She blinks several times as he puts a finger to his lips. A playful smile on his face as he places the motorcycle helmet back on his head with a smooth motion after spinning it on his index finger of the left hand.

“Sakuya, could you guide me to the entrance?” He asked the air in the room. With a surprising ease, she is already standing beside him without sound or notice. It was in all practicality, perfect teleportation in all marks. She bows towards the young miss before turning to him. With a curtsy, she steps to the side of the door.

“Of course.” She remarks, and with that, they were on the way to his parked bike. Through the dark halls without any natural light. Far larger than what should have been. During the time, he takes several glances at the woman who walked in without much going on. A spaced-out expression on her face shows that she is barely paying any mind to the path that they are taking.

(TOUHOU)

**_Gensokyo: Desmond’s Still Unnamed Shop_ **

**_????: 1900_ **

Desmond reparked his main mode of transportation a few minutes before starting on stocking up the shop for the first time. Making sure to place the closed sign up. It may be lazy of him to not go and check the area that he ended up in but he just shrugged it off. Booster cards lined the shelves behind him, displaying their glory. But the things inside the clear countertop were the true prizes, glinting in the light that shined on their protective cases. Golds, rainbows, and plain painted cardstock were what was arrayed in an efficiently beautiful display.

The rest of the room was empty at the moment, tiled with slate that was polished to an almost mirror shine. Seamless lines arrayed in rows were cut into the floor. With a tap of a button, the shelving of the store rose up from their storage. But in the midst of his movements in restocking the ship, he never noticed the young blond riding a broom across the entrance.

Number Of Words: ~2600

Date Completed: 9/3/2020

Note: And here is chapter 2 done and squared away. And checking the number of comments, it is far more than what I have from Warped Commander when it was at two/three chapters. (Though it is sad that a majority of it is arguing about each other and rudely, but ultimately fair, criticism.) I enjoyed writing this, as with all of my fics and I hope you enjoyed reading it.

Comment Cove (And the first-ever appearance of it, I really need to respond in the actual fic and not just in PMs)

Guest: Seems okay so far but if there is going to be a Harem then some characters should be marked as not going in no matter what such as Reimu, Sanae, Marisa e.t.c. As they are teenage girls and this guy is 65 and a former cop the very idea would be disgusting to them so some of the older cast members but not the ones that look perpetually young like Remillia, Flandre or Suika. Hmmm Kanako, Byakuren, Yukari, Yuuka, Keine and the like look old enough that it might be more likely.

Response: First off, I am glad for you not just reading but commenting, thank you. Physically old enough as it stands is fine, though at the age of 16 it is a rather common age of consent. There could be an argument that it would be far past robbing the cradle on the other side, considering they are well past any acceptable gap in age, though with how often people write about having love and lust bloom between centuries-old supernatural beings and the relatively normal 16-year-old. (And the regular Touhou shipping that happens) He still has the body of late teens and early twenties, being 65 only means he has enough self-control not to go after them despite his physical body yelling at him to go after them. But after it all, they are of consenting age, (Though i won’t be writing explicit scenes) and can (will if ever desire) fall in love with Desmond.As for those physically being eternally young… well I’ll figure it out when I get there. (I write chapter by chapter after all)

As to the rest of you, the situation is handled and I will not be deleting the fic just to get rid of comments. Tone it down in the future and grapple with each other in PMs, whether your own or mine. If it is not about the story or criticism for my work, please leave it out of the comments. (Though I don’t know whether or not people even look at them.)


	4. Story Of The Puppeteer

A/N: (Note/Disclaimer) All recognizable objects and characters belong to their respective owners. Mainly Team Shanghai Alice for Touhou Project or, as per usual, my own characters belonging to me.

Note 2:

("Common Language [Japanese in this case]/Speech")

(‘Foreign Languages’)

(" _ Thoughts (In their own native tongue)" _ )

**(Attacks/Weapon names)**

_ (Other/Foreign/ Speech & Text/Written, Titles) _

_ (Actions/POV) _

**_(Titles_ ** **/** **_Flashback/Time/Dates/Place)_ **

(Narration & Everything else)

**(“Demonic Speech”)**

**(‘Demonic Thoughts’)**

**A Retired Officer’s Shop In The Eastern Wonderland Chapter 4**

**_Gensyoko: Still Unnamed Shop_ **

**_August 9th, 2003: 1400_ **

_ Third Person: Omni _

“And that is everything stocked.” His remark on the afternoon of the next day was the result of his hard work last night and early this morning. A set of simple monochrome clothes adorned his figure, a tee-shirt, and jeans, both dyed black. The store is now fully functioning with products lining the shelves. It was mainly early 21st-century games and products that were in stock at the moment.

“Now to think of a name…” It was only in his mind that could bounce off ideas for the name of the store. He sat inside the reclining chair behind the counter, angled back to stare at one of the corners of the room. It’s not like Eve could help really, as human-like as she is, she is still an AI with a total difference in value and aesthetics, even with the huge discrepancy of regular human aesthetics. There is also the fact she relates words differently when compared to living beings.

“You know that you can just name it ‘Desmond’s Game Store’ right?” She remarks through the headphones on his ears at the moment. He just wryly smiles at her joke. She fully well knows that he wants the name to be sentimental. A ring from the door’s bell showcases a pair coming in to interrupt the shop keeper’s train of thought. 

“Welcome.” A smile on his face as he stands from his chair with ease. The first to step into his shop was the blond witch that he met in passing yesterday. But the second that followed right behind her was another blond but with blue eyes this time. A red headband is what adorns the head of chin-length gold locks. Short puffed up white sleeves tied with pastel pink ribbons. Another one tied itself around her waist. In all, her figure and face brought up the look of a doll if it were only a glance they took of her. In her right hand, a leather-bound book, a grimoire, was tied in by ribbons shut.

“And that’s when I flew past this place. Oh hello.” It was the witch that was talking animatedly to the doll-like girl who just had an exasperated yet amused smile on her face as she listened to her neighbor of hers ramble on. She noticed him far before the other blond if the glance towards him when they first walked through the door was anything to go by. 

“Why yes, hello there. I am the owner of this here establishment.” His remark was accompanied by the slight smile on his face as he looks at them from behind the counter. He works up his standard nonchalant attitude honed by undercover work to not reveal his other identity to the shorter of the two, though that is not saying much considering the which is rather short. Though with the way they are looking around the shop, it’s not like they had much attention to pay on him. 

“My name is Desmond Howard, might I know yours?” His tone now polite as he asked their names, and with it, turning their attention back to the male owner and away from the colorful shelves of product. He lays his hands across the glass counter, bringing a little attention to the prized cards.

“Right, name ’s Hakurei Reimu, a shrine maiden-ze.” Her boisterous introduction was the first of them, and finally giving him a name to the person and some mannerisms to memorize. In all her mannerisms that she showed off to him were quite masculine in contrast to her well-manicured look. And within her hand, a regular broom was held. It was kinda funny just how little she resembled a shrine maiden like she claimed in her introduction. The other lass hit her partner over the head with a deft hand.

“Marisa introduce yourself properly. I am Alice Margatroid, this is Shanghai.” The other half of the pair introduced herself with a calm tone. With it getting warmer as she introduced the doll walking at her side. Blond tied with a pink ribbon and in a black dress with a white apron were the words that could describe the puppet by the side of Alice. It bows beside her, a respectful time passes before Shanghai stands straight again.

“Fine, Marisa Kirisame ’s the name, the Ordinary Black Magician.” Her pout was settled on the face and told just how much fun was taken out of her day due to the introduction failing. It was quite cute causing a hint of amusement in the eyes of the other two in the room.

“Any questions about the shop or what I am selling?” He asks with quite the interest, they are after all the first people to come in during business hours. And the first time that he worked behind the counter in a store when it was in active business hours.

“Why is your shop located in the middle of practically nowhere? You will get no human customers here ya know.” He just smiles in a self-reproaching smile at that question. It’s not like he asked to be put in this position. 

“Well, I kinda just ended up here, not like I had much of a choice in the matter.” It was a shrug with his hands raised up that added nuance to his answer. Alice looks intently at his ungloved hands for a few seconds before returning her gaze to his face after a few seconds.

“So you came from the outside world.” Was the remark that came from the black-clothed blond. A term of which sounded a bit strange though it could just be a small area in the world, though it felt to be more than that for some reason. Especially with how the outfits around him are so strange, even the most rural blackwater places in the universe had at least clothing consisting of Twenty-First Century attire of Earth.

“Outside huh?” He looks at them a bit strangely, fishing for some more information for the situation that he finds himself in. And in turn, they also look at him a bit searchingly, though it was more Alice than Marisa. 

“By the way, what time is it right now?” It is not like he had seen the sky and sun all that much since he got here. He willfully decided to shift the conversation to the other topic before they got more suspicious.

“‘Round 2.” Was the surprisingly deadpan retort from the witch. It would seem that he did not hide it all that well when concerning. It would be her that would put it out straight, from the impression that he is getting off her. By no means is he a psychologist though.

“Huh, so tea time already.” An atypical response that had the tea set arriving as he reset the standard clocks in the shop. Though if he actually took the chance to observe the unobstructed skies and actually calculate it with Japan time he would guess it.

“Would you two like some?” He asks while sitting behind the counter, a smile once again taking its place on his face as he pours into the western teacup in front of him. The two look at each other before watching him as he takes a sip from the tea, prompting them to take their own cups and sip… even as they stood in front of the counter.

“May as well introduce its function considering that you two probably don’t know the services and goods I sell.” They nod to him as he finishes the tea. They could get the gist of what would be sold here especially with the strange merchandise held within.It not often things from the outside world would get into Gensyoko and never in history an entire shop came through.

“It is but a games and hobby shop, a place to find respite and calm.” Sure, out of all the things that could be provided in old times, games were not played like this much, especially considering they had far less to worry about while all their time was consumed by growing enough food for their families.

“Games?” Was the question asked by both of their expressions, though it only Marisa who voiced out those words. A smile and a gesture to the counter in between them to have them look at the cards under it once again.

“One of the more prolific game types are trading card games, especially a recent one called Summoners Story. It is a complex and simple game style, typically two players in nature with a basic set of initial rules and changes occurring when cards are played.” One of the games created recently… at least in his time. Alice’s eyes land on a specific set of two cards.

“I find it a fun game myself… Oh, I see the  _ Puppeteer Legend Pair _ has caught your attention.” A smile on his face as he noticed her interested gaze. One card had a border of brown, an old man crafting a doll in a rocking chair. Wizened but skilled hands painted on features to the creation as a smile is on his face. A simple script on the top held the title,  _ The Kind Old Doll Maker _ . On the other card, this time with a white border, a young woman stood before a grave with a large home in the distance. An arm was removed from the shoulder and in her other hand, revealing that she is a puppet. Her own script had  _ Daughter of the Master Puppeteer _ . A bunch of script under the portraits were covered and the images themselves had a prismatic shine.

“It should be release set 5, _ Makers Haven _ … And there it is.” A crouch down to open one of the drawers below the counter display. They were filled with binders with their spines up. A grasp on the one with the specific label and it was set upon the counter. The cover had an illustration of people talking in a workshop.

“Should be here… Got it.” A smile on his face as he flipped through the pages of cards to find the set of puppeteer cards he was looking for. While certainly not as fancy, the two cards still had the same effect. The artwork is the exact same as their super rare versions.

“As you would probably expect all cards have their lore.” He motions to the rest of the page, while of them had many different wordings and abilities, there was something that was on all of them,  _ Maker’s Alliance.  _ Marisa was also looking at the cards intently, though with far less focus when compared to Alice.

“These two in particular are known as the Puppeteer Pair, a father who is a doll maker, and a living doll that he crafted.” Alice’s eyes observed the two cards with a depth of passion within.

“Would you like to hear the story?” They both look up at him, acting more like their physical appearance would suggest… well one of their true ages at least. A nod of their heads gives him the consent and wants to listen to the story crafted by the cards.

“Alright. Let's get settled then.” He remarks before sitting in a chair that he pulled up and raised up so that they could still see his upper half. He takes out a deck box of cards while putting away the binder of cards, it would be a far better medium to tell the story.

“The first card would be  _ The Young Puppet Maker _ .” The first card flipped from the deck was a young teenager in a workshop, within his hand was a carving knife and an incomplete human-sized hand. His own border still brown.

“A young man who spent his childhood creating puppets while giving shows at the local town center. He was comfortable with his life, never more ambition than the next day. But one day he was forced to fight and did so with human-sized puppets. And so we lead to the next card.” He flipped to the next card as he smiles at their undisturbed concentration to his every word. The next card had a magenta border, and the image within was a guildhall, the very same illustration as the pack art from the binder. The title of it was  _ Guild Of Combative Crafts _ .

“Later, he would join an organization created by the craftspeople of the world, more specifically, however, one that centered around combat. There he would meet many characters with colorful personalities. And like any creative person meeting another, they got inspired by one another, bringing their craft to a higher state.” Another draw released the next character to the story, this time a young girl working in a pharmacy. Her border was also white.  _ Alchemical Pharmacist  _ was the title of it.

“One of which he met was a young alchemist who focused on healing others. Barely 11 years old yet one of the greatest doctors in the land. She saw his craft one day and decided to help him with her knowledge of human anatomy. She taught him how and why muscles move so well. Showing him how exactly the human body moved, creating more convincing movements of his own.” A flip of another card revealed another version of the young puppet maker, this time he was at a theater showing his skills with puppets with a slightly older appearance. His border was also brown.

“He would later be known as  _ The Master Puppeteer _ when he showed the skills both in shows and battle. But as he walked both in festivals and blooded fields, his mind never swayed, he improved his craft before meeting another.” A pause for dramatic tension was used before flipping another card, another woman her skin almost as pale as a corpse without blood. Within her hands was a black grimoire with red lines like veins weaving a pattern. Her name on the card was  _ The Lawful Necromancer _ with a border of black.

“A master of the soul arts, though with how she dealt with bodies and souls was far from other necromancers. Signed consent in life to use their souls and body, she was fully legal... if a bit unpopular. A mere coincidence that he met her, and the puppet-like things she controlled with the soul as string… Or was it the other way around, strings imitating souls?” He took a breath, flipping another  _ Alchemical Pharmacist _ and placing it right beside the death contractor’s card.

“From both the alchemist and the necromancer he learned two different methods to create intelligence in an otherwise inanimate object, one without a heartbeat and built up without a soul, a machine through and through that could only develop a soul. The other side of the coin was an intelligent soul filled with a previous bias being implanted into a container. Both had merit.” He stacked the cards together again, getting close to the end of the deck. He pulls out another two cards, the kind old puppet maker of course, and another new card, this one was an image of an unfinished doll in the process of being made.  _ The Final Craft Of A Legendary Doll Maker  _ was its title on the card, and a grey border surrounded it.

“When he grew old and withered and stopped going to festivals and battles, he had a final regret in his otherwise fulfilling life. He had not a child in his life. And so he remembered his time with a certain pair. He recalled it faultily and remembered stories of blacksmiths creating fully sentient swords right from the forge along with it. And decided to do it himself.” A wistful smile on Desmond’s face showed how he told the story before, it was one of the main ones he told to children. He drew the final card,  _ The Legendary Puppeteers Daughter _ was the final card of this story.

“And it brings us to the epilogue of this story, it took him a long while but he had made a daughter of his own and taught her for three years, about the many things of the world and his craft. But in his old age he did not live long, dying in her embrace before he was buried by her. An end of the tale for the doll maker. A legendary Puppeteer and A Legendary Puppet who wandered the world… though that is a story for another time.” He smiles lightly as he fully turns the cards over once again, and puts it back into the labeled deck box and that into the drawer. As he went through they were pondering.

“I did not create the story, though I have practiced it so much that it is honestly hard to tell.” He was talking to himself again, a byproduct of single missions without a partner in the other world. Helps keep his mind in order though it can be quite revealing.

“So what is the game like?” It was Alice who asked him about the game. From the puppet besides her, it would seem that the story held enough substance for her to ponder… whether metaphorical or literal in her eyes.

“I enjoy it quite a bit, complex and a high skill ceiling but with a low skill beginning.” He never noticed that the witch was observing the store’s shelves with an analyzing gaze and clenching her thieving hands every few seconds.

“I have no idea what to price it at though, not like I know the currency that you use here.” Marisa discreetly took one of the starter decks off of a shelf and hid it in her dress with an experienced ease. One with a theme around magicians and magic.

“Well we best be going Alice, I think you left something unfinished at your house.” Marisa remarks as she comes back to the counter, not a sign that she stole some merchandise. Alice looks over at the other magic user with a raised brow. Desmond goes under the counter and brings out a starter deck with the name  _ Work Of The Makers _ .

“Going already huh… Mmm then take this then, I want to commemorate things like sentimentality. I think Marisa already got hers though.” A blink comes to her face as an innocent grin comes across her face in a flash.

“I want to borrow it to give inspiration.” Her mischievous grin told him that if here to leave it in her hands he would never get them back at all. Though it was a store made for not his profits, but his amusement so it's not like he cared if they stole it… it's just that he wanted them to have fun with it.

“If you want to play any games just come back… I don’t know when I’ll be opening turnys. I have a few other games if you ever want to come around again.” He smiles lightly as they both leave the store… it's not like it is that much of a problem... He did replace his stock with japanese translations.

Number Of Words ~3200

Date Completed: 9/22/20

Note: Thank you all for reading this chapter… though it is not heavy in interactions. Infact, I don’t really care for action scenes (Writing them at least) with both of my stories being heavily slice of life. Quite rough with how I write huh… Welp I hope you guys enjoyed it.

Comment Cove

Derago: What do you mean by Third Person: Omni? It ruined the perspective, you know. Do you want to tell the story from third pov or first?

Response: I usually write in third person omni to not restrict myself… I do mix in first person sometimes, though that depends on the situation. And while the Narrator Knows Everything in omni it doesn't mean that they will tell everything. They (and in the process me the author) is trying to center things around Desmond, especially with the lore at hand making it quite possible to write in that manner from an in-world standpoint. I go into First person for a paragraph or two before switching back… not in any way consistent and If I was professionally publishing it would be in no way like that. It is written chapter by chapter, so anything that strikes my fancy is in there.

PurgingInferno: Im liking the concept your going for i have only a few things to say about it having the harem tag. All of these are pet peeves that i have with the harem genre is that the relationship is rushed or takes to long to establish another is the OC being dense. Finally that the OC spends more time with one of the girls from the harem and the rest seem to fade out. So if possible please avoid these but if you feel some of these would help your story in the end its your story. I look forward to what you write later on also i wish best of luck in your works, endeavors and wish you a good day/ good night.

Response: In other stories with harem it is easy to get caught up in characters… though in this one they have definetie personalities whether fanon or truely canon. They are also set in mainly action based stories and that can put a rush on the harem as well as never giving any real details. I am writing a slice of life so it won’t be rushed as much.

On another note, Thank you both for reading and commenting on the story, it helps me explain things to you as well as myself.


	5. Viewing Of The Cherry Trees

A/N: (Note/Disclaimer) All recognizable objects and characters belong to their respective owners. Mainly Team Shanghai Alice for Touhou Project or, as per usual, my own characters belonging to me.

Note 2:

("Common Language [Japanese in this case]/Speech")

(‘Foreign Languages’)

(" _ Thoughts (In their own native tongue)" _ )

**(Attacks/Weapon names)**

_ (Other/Foreign/ Speech & Text/Written, Titles) _

_ (Actions/POV) _

**_(Titles_ ** **/** **_Flashback/Time/Dates/Place)_ **

(Narration & Everything else)

**(“Demonic Speech”)**

**(‘Demonic Thoughts’)**

**A Retired Officer’s Shop In The Eastern Wonderland Chapter 5**

**_Gensokyo: Path To The Hakurei Shrine_ **

**_August 16th, 2003: 0708_ **

_ Third Person: Omni _

“So this is the place.” After a week of the shop being constantly invaded by youkai, Ben happened to hear about the shrine when he was listening in on one of the ambush conversations. He left his main mode of transport at the first torii up as he traversed the rest of the way by foot. If to keep some form of what his mind sees as tradition. The religious gates were worn due to the elements but had a well cared for warmth to them.

His footsteps sound out on the stone path into the forest around him. A calm stride was kept as he walked up the steps to the only religious place in Gensokyo. The rustling forest around him gave a good amount of ambiance as Amaterasu rose as the sun from the east. His casual clothes rustled in the breeze as he carried a backpack up to the shrine and a jingle of coin from the pouch tied to his belt.

The forest was pleasant with its background noise, never really erie with silence as the rustle of leaves and the chirping of birds filled the silence that would tell of something dangerous. A bush rustles as a doe peeks out of it, a smile on his face he observes as it watches him in turn as he rests on the stone bench of a relatively bare platform. Paper talisman lines the forest path border, keeping youkai out of the path… though it is not like they needed to walk through the path to get to the shrine. All of them were unfaded… replaced only a short time ago.

It took him about an hour of walking to get to the end clearing. A relatively worn down shrine is what sat in the clearing that the final tori framed. A wash station sat near the beginning of the final path, recently filled with a bit of water. It is also incredibly worn through the years, with a fair bit of holes and new wood to patch rotted panels. The groove that pulled away wastewater was bone dry and dusty as if it had never been used in years.

A well-cared-for donation box sat in front of the shrine, along with two komainu statues flanking either side of the shabby shrine. The set of glasses perched in front of his eyes spotted the concentration of mana saturating them. In fact, mana was incredibly dense around the religious site. A Shimenawa was tied atop the posts beside the box, raising to the bottom of the roof.

A quick wash of his hands and mouth with the purification station, probably the first person in quite a long time that was cleansed there. The clack of stones being stepped on with resolute movement was what signaled his movement to the donation box. A creek of the old wood and battered fasteners was what signified his movement atop the porch that held the donation box. Weathered sliding doors stand behind it. The lock on the box itself is old, yet secure in its make. There were several kanji engraved onto the metal with a careful hand.

He opens the bag of currency methodically, taking great care in his movements, acting almost as if he is being watched with a high amount of scrutiny. Though he definitely has several pairs of eyes on his person as he prepares his donation. He turns it over, letting gravity take its course on the coins within. The sound of the second coin hitting the wood bars atop the box had not even sounded when a blur of white and red showed itself before him. Clad in the same clothing as a week ago, the shrine maiden stood with entranced eyes at the money falling from the pouch and into the box.

“Th-th-thank you for the donation.” There was a bit of a stammer in the way she spoke, a product of having not a soul make a donation for a long while. Desmond finished the rest of the prayer ritual in a simple fashion, though he had not a wish that was unfulfilled at the moment.

“Hello.” A smile was given to the shrine keeper when he finally turned around and greeted her. Now that he looked at her in a more natural light he could tell several things about her. Her skin was quite pale, but not to an unnatural extreme like the vampire pair that he spoke with on that day. She was looking malnourished as well from the way her outline held on the cloth that clad her body.

“I am quite new around here, nice to have your acquaintance miko-san.” He bows to her for a few seconds, a playful flourish in the small and large movements that he takes. He straightened himself back to a stand while keeping the pack utop his back controlled. The dazed expression on her face reminded him of Sakuya as he stood up to observe her as the final sounds of the coins clanging fades.

“Nice to meet you as well.” Her voice is soft in tone, much more so than when she was talking in the meeting. Though that made more than enough sense considering the circumstances. A vague look of interest settles on her face after the surprise of having money to cover expenses dropped into the box.

“Would you like some tea?” Her question was given with a comfortable experience, suggesting that she has also had some tea with other donors. A nod from him has the resident of the shrine lead him to a porch at the back, walking on the side that has a storage building. He could faintly hear the movements of someone within it.

“One second while I prepare the tea.” She moves into the shrine quickly, leaving him behind to watch the grove of cherry trees swaying in the wind, though none of them were in bloom at the moment it was still quite a sight to look upon. The summer sun shined brightly upon the scene. A broom rests close to the porch, she was cleaning the back of the shine when he arrived most likely.

“Here you are.” A tray held two cups of poured green tea, along with a plate of Dango, was what she carried into the back after a few minutes of time. Her face now set into a peaceful slight smile. Well, that was the amount of time to recover from her shock. A relaxing calm came over the pair as they sat and nursed their beverages.

_____(TOUHOU PROJECT)_____

“Sup Reimu.” Interrupting their tea time was the kleptomaniac herself, Marisa Kirisame. Though Reimu, who Desmond just learned the name of now, just sighs with an exasperated expression. She came around the shrine on a fairly often basis. The black speedster hops off her broom once reaching the porch.

“What do you want Marisa?” Though she did not come every day, Marisa did come by every so often to check on the shrine maiden. Though she would never actually admit it to anyone. Marisa had a grin on her face as she walked over to them with the broom in hand.

“I just decided to come over.” She replies, grinning like a lunatic as she hops onto the porch, seating herself close by to the original pair along with leaning the supposed mode of transport. In her other hand was a leather-bound book without any discerning markings. Desmond smiles lightly at the pair’s comedy routine from behind the teacup.

“Not like I can do much to stop you from coming.” The shrine maiden mumbled to herself after she took a sip of the green tea that she prepared for the precious donner. Marisa’s grin widened itself on that omission from the raven-haired shaman.

“Good morning Marisa.” He calmly greeted the lass that he hasn’t seen for a week. The blond decided that the best thing to do was snag a stick of Dango off the plate and consume it for herself. 

“Mornin’ Desmond.” She responded with her own brand of greeting while taking bites of the rice-based snack. It was chewy and tasted faintly sweet, just as it was meant to be. The three sat in silence as the leaves danced in the wind.

“I’d say you got better at making Dango, Reimu.” She suddenly broke the silence with a piercing comment. Ben looks over at the witch with inquiring eyes, the comment sparked with it an interest in the story behind her words. 

“From the one who poisons whoever eats her food, it is not all that convincing of an argument.” Reimu flippantly responds, paying barely any mind to that remark. It is not like she had anyone to teach her how to make food, for a food that was made via trial and error, it is quite well made thank you very much.

“My cooking is edible to those who have poison resistance. And they taste quite good too.” Marisa responds quickly, not even bothering to bat away the remark on her poisonous food. Remarking as, quite possibly, the only person that could say that in Gensokyo. Though Desmond takes into mind that he is probably the one who has the most experienced in the culinary arts. As much as he could say, you had to learn how to cook in order to stay alive as a single man. Though that statement is far less true by the time of his venture into adulthood.

“You have literally eaten so many mushrooms in the Magical Forest, that I am surprised that you are even alive.” Reimu decides to keep putting up the discussion in a slightly uninterested manner, though her voice was tinged the barest bit with amusement and enjoyment.

“I could say the same to you, miss one who gets poisoned by the food you cook once a week.” And looking at them, he could guess as to why they are trading jabs at how bad the other is at cooking. He could tell that the conversation is all in good fun by the faint smile on Reimu’s face, and the cheer filled grin on Marisa’s face.

  
“I haven’t been had food poisoning in a good year now.” Reimu glances sidelong at the observer in their conversation. He still sat there, giving no sign that he would speak in either of their positions.

“Oh ho ho, what is this I hear about bad food?” Walking past the path opposite of the storage building, a certain pair of mistress and maid walked out. Sakuya was walking beside her mistress, keeping a parasol over her head as they walked over to the trio.

“Well if it isn’t Remmy.” Marisa decided to note the vampire first, though Desmond decided that it would be best to act ignorant of her status at the moment. Though he did have experience in hunting the supernatural, and that much showed in his posture changing slightly, growing ever slightly tense. The miko of the shrine also tensed slightly, compared to her extremely relaxed position earlier.

“Sakuya, if you would.” At the command of her mistress, the silver-haired maid nodded. Suddenly by the trio’s side, a plate of confections appeared. Not even taking a pause in their steps they reached the covered porch that shielded the users from the sun. She helped her mistress up before closing the parasol.

“Nice to meet you.” He bows his head at the presumed noble and maid. She just smiles gracefully with a hint of childish mischievous thoughts. Sakuya’s eyes sparkled with mirth, a knowing look was given to him. He just gives a mysterious smile in return. It would be quite easy to figure out it was he who was mediating the discussion with the strange things that he is wearing. Though personally, he would like to start wearing a Yutaka while in the shop.

“Today you have quite the number of visitors.” Marisa grins teasingly at the poor shrine maiden. The lady in question just gives an unamused look at the tomboy blond. Though if you were to compare the two, Marisa took far better care in manicuring her appearance.

“The confections are quite well-made, miss?” He asks the question with some fun in his heart, he had always wanted to play the clueless bystander, considering how integral he had become to the world, it was not often that h went to a place that didn’t know who he was, even when going off-planet on diplomatic missions as Earth’s hero.

“Sakuya Izayoi. This is my mistress Remilia Scarlet.” She responds with a curtsy before standing at the side of her mistress once more. A dazed expression slowly forming on her face after she thought that no one was observing her.

“Why are you here Remilia?” Reimu asked in a fully uninterested manner. Though for the sake of the main source of income for the shrine she decided to ask. Rem just smiles in the mix of childish fun and grace of a noble lady.

“I decided to give you some gifts today. It is not like it would be unwelcome would it?” She pointed directly at the main difficulty of the shrine, it just didn’t have enough people despite being the only shrine in the wonderland.

“I best be going now, and the money that I donated was not the full donation that I am going to give,” Desmond spoke after a few hours of conversation between the group. He shrugs off the bag on his back after standing up. The large bag was stuffed full and noticeably heavy when a person tried to carry it.

“Make sure you take care of yourselves.” He hops off the platform with a light step, turning back to wave at the four on the shrine porch. Reimu quickly stood up from her position, as lazy as she was she would not be a bad host.

“I will walk you to the steps then.” She looked pointedly at the kleptomaniac magician with eyes telling her not to try and steal the bag. She also gave the other two not to cause any trouble while she was gone.

**_Top Steps of the Hakurei Shrine_ **

**_August 16th, 2003: 0708_ **

“Make sure to be careful on the ride home, Mr. Police Officer.” Reimu calmly smiles at him from her spot in the middle of the top clearing. He looked over at her in slight surprise. It would seem that she is far sharper than her regular movements would think.

“I am off then. Please enjoy what I brought you. You can visit me if you’d like, Marisa knows where I am.” He shakes off the surprise in only a few seconds before he decided to respond with those words. Waving behind himself as he descended down the step till she could not see him anymore.

Word Count: ~2500 words

Date Completed: 10/22/20

Note: Hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Might go into dormancy again cause this took a lot out of me, especially when school started once again.

Comment Cove

Guest: To be honest, ive gone back and re-read the few paragraphs before and after the gunshot, and i still cant understand why he would have fired his gun. The story is great from what ive read so far though, and im not going to let one event that seems to have no reasoning behind it happening sour the rest of the story. Please do keep up the good work!

Response: While Sakuya could have done a number of things, Desmond decided to play it cool considering he had no idea if the danmaku would hurt anyone.


	6. Harvest Of A (Amateur) Bamboo Cutter

A/N: (Note/Disclaimer) All recognizable objects and characters belong to their respective owners. Mainly Team Shanghai Alice for Touhou Project or, as per usual, my own characters belonging to me.

Note 2:

("Common Language [Japanese in this case]/Speech")

(‘Foreign Languages’)

(" _ Thoughts (In their own native tongue)" _ )

**(Attacks/Weapon names)**

_ (Other/Foreign/ Speech & Text/Written, Titles) _

_ (Actions/POV) _

**_(Titles_ ** **/** **_Flashback/Time/Dates/Place)_ **

(Narration & Everything else)

**(“Demonic Speech”)**

**(‘Demonic Thoughts’)**

**A Retired Officer’s Shop In The Eastern Wonderland Chapter 6**

**_Gensokyo: Bamboo Forest Of the Lost: Forest Edge_ **

**_August 18th, 2003: 1300_ **

_ Third Person: Omni _

Desmond checked his kit once more, several navigation tools, and sharpened saws. If he was a professional bamboo cutter he would have decided to come in before dawn, but despite it being overly cumbersome to carry he decided to come to harvest some bamboo anyway.

“I still haven’t a clue as to why you would come harvest in the most cumbersome way possible when you can literally manufacture it in the realizer. Or even use a miracle.” Eve comments from the headset resting atop his ears. Desmond smiles lightly before responding.

“Well, I could do that, but it would take the challenge and fun out of it. Even if it will take several months to actually cure.” He remarks as he repacks everything save for the compass and machete. Though what was left unsaid between the two of them was the mystical properties that real grown bamboo held. It was particularly difficult to replicate via the manufacturing method, though that wouldn't matter much in what they are using it for in the first place. 

“Sides, it gives our observers something to watch. And you know how often I switch through projects just to not dwell on things.” Though the observers in question could not hear what he said about them. Today was the creation of a bamboo scroll, just to see how it feels to write on and how effective it would be in warding. 

More of an experiment than anything, in the traditional Chinese elemental sense, the overwhelming amount of “wood” that rests inside bamboo was to help in the adaptability. The second most abundant element within the bamboo would be water, especially with the time that he is harvesting time now.

“Well then, nothing like a good workout. Let’s get started.” He takes his first steps into the forest between two clumps of young bamboo. A thread of magias energy to lead him back, it was a fairly easy way to get back to the outer parts of the forest. And it would last an entire day.

___(TOUHOU)___

**_Gensokyo: Bamboo Forest Of the Lost: Outer Circle_ **

**_August 18th, 2003: 1400_ **

He hummed lightly as he walked through the rustling bamboo, making sure to enjoy the sight. Having walks like these would be fully inline with a person of his actual age… though his physical appearance and the danger that the area around him held made this image quite humorous if a person in the know saw him.

“The elements are getting stronger this way.” He said aloud as he walks further into the ever-changing topography. After spending an hour walking in about the same direction, but the sudden growth of bamboo that blocked him did make it a bit harder to traverse the place. Of course, he could just fly above it and be over it in a few minutes, but that would just take the enjoyment out of the bamboo harvesting.

He felt more and more stares pile onto him, along with flashes of colors behind the bamboo around him. He knew the newer observers were protecting something deep within the forest and would not do anything to harm him as long as he did not disturb them or went too far in. He could hear their hopping on the flat ground that the bamboo grew upon.

He finished the tune that he was on before stopping to observe the bamboo around him. Indeed, they were generally getting older, even if some young ones were still around. He could feel the slight relaxation that the people around him felt. They had also been enjoying his humming it would seem.

“Welp, farther in I go.” He resumed his humming and restarted his walk after observing the bamboo around him. After his statement, the residents got a bit tenser… though that did not stop them from enjoying the performance that he put up.

___(TOUHOU)___

**_Gensokyo: Bamboo Forest Of the Lost: Intermediate Circle_ **

**_August 18th, 2003: 1500_ **

“Now it is starting to look like what I have come for.” He remarks as he stops once more. He could feel the element surrounding and confusing his sense slightly. If he didn’t have the marker that was his magias energy, he would have certainly gotten lost by now, not to mention the standard villager that wandered into it. He felt the observers lessen, though the slight apprehensive note from their gases grew more severe as the steps towards the center of the forest increased.

The strength of the personel behind the gazes became much stronger after he crossed the boundary of intermediate and outer. Though that was the main way he could tell that there was a boundary… along with the sudden leap in the age of bamboo of course.

As he walked farther and farther in, the pieces that he sounded outgrew more somber and slower in pace. As if not in a rush in the slightest as he moved through the grasses. It was especially calming with the deep and softness that he used. And by far was it enjoyed.

**_Gensokyo: Bamboo Forest Of the Lost: Border Between The Inner And The Intermediate_ **

**_August 18th, 2003: 1600_ **

It started to grow dark as he finally reached the farthest he would go, the border between the two areas. Now that he was rather close to the center, he could feel a barrier set up. It was fairly advanced and quite strong by what he could estimate.

“This looks like a good one to use…” He selected the oldest bamboo in sight, prepping the tools to cut it. It was rather tall and large, definitely above a two-story home in height and a meter in diameter. A rabbit wandered into the small clearing he decided to set up in order to inspect the tools, and to take a break from walking for several hours.

“Hello, little one.” He smiled lightly at it, it was in no way scared of him despite being a relatively skittish animal outside Gensyoko. Deciding to bring out the bento he made for himself, he sits on the ground with a blanket. It was in no way dinner, but he decided to enjoy the hearty meal.

“Not at all shy ain’t ya.” He chuckles slightly at the movement of the small mammal to him. He brings out some leafy greens from a refrigerated box… or at least what looked like it, it was far more like a transporter that connected to his home fridge. It took a cursory look at the greens before deciding that it was safe to eat. He could feel the jealous stares focus on the rabbit from the ones in humanoid form around the small clearing.

“It really is beautiful round here, I haven't visited a bamboo grove for years before this.” He remarks as the rabbit sits with him. Close enough to protect it, yet far enough away to not startle it with any sudden movements. He takes off the bamboo hat that he wore to feel more traditional. The shadow over his face is now gone, revealing his features to the world around him.

“First time I am trying to harvest some bamboo like this.” He remarks to the rabbits in a conversational manner, though to them it looked like he was speaking his mind out to the rabbit in the clearing. He was eating the simple yet filling food with a rabbit.

“Welp, it is time to cut it.” He stands up after finishing, once more inspecting the particular bamboo stem that he would be cutting and transporting with him. He counted up the secontions to make sure that it wont rot after he cuts it. A sharp machete like knife was unsheathed with ease. He made sure to check the blade of it. Finding it was good and sharp, he let his arms drop to his side, eyes focusing on the line between sections, a way to keep the bottom piece sealed from disease.

“Sever.” He mumbles it under his breath, the open stance shifting faster than the eye could notice. He resheathed the knife, taking out metal skewers from another pack as the bamboo swayed and started to fall. He quickly threw the skewers into the bottom of each section to drain water. After getting satisfied, he pulled the threads back, returning the pieces of metal to his hands. It made enough resistance to have the bamboo stock to fall towards him.

“Rain, hydrate your children.” He calmly remarks as clean water dripped into the flat ground. Lengths of 5 sections split from the long stem that was the bamboo. He quietly stacked the lengths as they reached him, making sure that it was quite the spectacle for the rabbit observers.

“And that was all I came in for… now to wait for them to drain so I dont have to worry about rot.” He remarks, making sure that the holes were at the bottom. It would take a few minutes in order to drain out into the earth once more.

“Good day.” He greets several more rabbits that decided that he was safe enough to be around. He takes out a marker inorder to write just which section it was, and since there were about 10 of the cut lengths, it took a bit of time to mark all 50 of them and make sure that they were the right sequence. A young woman stepped from behind the grove of bamboo.

“Good day.” She states in her own variation of a calm tone. Though she looked a bit surprised to see another person this deep into the forest of the lost, even the lost usually only go as far as the intermediate ring. He did not feel her eyes on him, another wanderer most likely.

“Hello, miss?” He decided to stand inorder to greet her properly, alongside asking for her name. She was definitely not human from the ears on her head and the slight amount of fur that was only spotted with a keen eye from her sleeves.

“Kagerou Imaizumi. My name is Kagerou Imaizumi.” She states with a slight smile, she hasn’t met a human in quite a while all things considering. Not many humans wandered into the forest, at least those from the village. They did take the warning seriously despite the yakitori vender that wandered around the forest herself. Though it is not like she would attack humans.

“I am Desmond Howard, it is well meet to make your acquaintance.” His own way of speaking could be considered a touch antiquated, but her’s was on a far higher level compared to the way he is actively speaking.

“Might I ask if you are a Warewolf?” He decides to speak a little bit daringly. It has been a while since he has met a non human that didn’t immediately attack, at least from this world.

“Yes, I am a werewolf. Why did you want to know?” The rabbit looked over at the wolf wanderer, while she did not wander into the inner part often, it was not unheard of her to do so. They long understood her intentions of just wandering around.

“An old friend of mine was one, though I don’t think I have seen many western based youkai in gensokyo.” He remarks with a small laugh. She just smiled lightly as well, someone who is not an antagonist of youkai, the last human that was like that was the local shrine maiden. Though they did not meet often since she stayed at the shrine and no incidents have happened within the forest.

“Oh, another wolf? I would have liked to meet him.” She was a solitary person, but it would be nice to talk to another of her kind. It was fun talking to other youkai… despite it being quite exhausting for her.

“She has sadly passed though… like everyone around me eventually will be.” The last part was mumbled, but she could still hear it loud and clear. He had a nostalgic smile to his face. So is the curse and blessing of immortality. He would know them more than anything as an unaging constant in their lives.

“I am sorry to hear about that.” She had her fair share of friends who died… especially before she became a youkai. But who didn’t have close ones who died… they could only move on.

___(TOUHOU PROJECT)___

“Thankyou for the chat… but I must get going lest I arrive in darkness.” The human and wolf pair spoke to each other as the water drained from the bamboo, the rabbits hidden from sight watching the entire time. They were far more disciplined than one would expect.

“Would you like me to lead you out?” She asked him while he prepped the lengths of bamboo for transport… mainly tying them into bundles to place on his back. He shook his head in a polite refuse, he had his path out already marked out… though she couldn't tell.

“Thanks for the offer though… it was nice meeting you, Kagerou-san. If you would like some tea and a chat, you can come to my store. It is rather easy to spot.” He said to her with a smile as he tied the bundles to his bag for an even weight distribution. It was quite heavy like one would expect after cutting them in the wrong season and time.

“I will think about it.” She replied with a slight smile, they spoke enough to be considered acquaintances if not friends now. He pet the rabbit who grew to like his company before standing up from the ground and folding up the blanket on the ground.

“Something about this forest is making me think about my immortality quite a bit.” He remarks as he finished packing everything, he would be in for a long walk with a hundred pounds strapped to his back. He felt barely any strain from it though. She heard him, but she already was the first he talked to about his own immortality.

___(TOUHOU PROJECT)___

**_Gensokyo: Bamboo Forest Of the Lost: Intermediate Ring_ **

**_August 18th, 2003: 1700_ **

“Are you lost?” The slightly gruff voice of a young woman spoke up to him from within the bamboo. The store owner looked for the source, a young woman with pale hair and dressed in a fairly maskulin style of clothing. Despite it all, she is a rather pretty lass.

“I am not, young miss. I am walking back on the line that I took into the forest inorder to harvest this.” He gestured to the old bamboo tied onto his bag. Her eyes widened slightly, she could definitely tell that the bamboo that he harvested was from the inner circle.

“Would you like me to accompany you to the human village?” She decided to ask despite the words he spoke. She has not talked to another person in a little while.

“The human village is not my own destination, you could accompany me till I reach near my own store if you would like. It would be nice to have a conversation while I walk.” He decided to keep the conversation and try to offer a way to accompany him. She looked a little bit lonely, and he felt a bit of kinship with her.

Word Count: ~2600 Words

Date Completed: 12/6/2020

Note: And four chapters posted in a row… that is a first for me at the very least. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter.

Comment Cove:

FFN:

Nixolas Zinn: ... Cheers for the chapter, a shame you may have to put this story on the back burner, but I appreciate the work regardless. Love the work, and I hope to see more.

Reply: I enjoy working on it… sadly my school work demands time and creative energy that I would much rather use on these fics. Happy you enjoyed it as well.


	7. The Food Of Immortals

A/N: (Note/Disclaimer) All recognizable objects and characters belong to their respective owners. Mainly Team Shanghai Alice for Touhou Project or, as per usual, my own characters belonging to me.

Note 2:

("Common Language [Japanese in this case]/Speech")

(‘Foreign Languages’)

(" _ Thoughts (In their own native tongue)" _ )

**(Attacks/Weapon names)**

_ (Other/Foreign/ Speech & Text/Written, Titles) _

_ (Actions/POV) _

**_(Titles_ ** **/** **_Flashback/Time/Dates/Place)_ **

(Narration & Everything else)

**(“Demonic Speech”)**

**(‘Demonic Thoughts’)**

**A Retired Officer’s Shop In The Eastern Wonderland Chapter 7**

**Gensyoko: Bamboo Forest Of The Lost: ??????**

**_August 18th, 2003: 1700_ **

_ Third Person: Omni _

“This is the drawing of what he looked like according to the rabbit that was with him.” A young woman with rabbit ears peeking out from her head said as a pencil drawing of Desmond was showcased to the young woman dressed in a very expensive manner.

“So that is what he looks like…” A young woman with purple hair looked over at the realistic drawing. Sure there were a few features warped due to it being a drawing and not a picture, but it was strikingly similar enough. She wore a business suit jacket over a white shirt along with a beige knee-length skirt.

“Dad?” The woman that looked akin to a princess asked herself in a surprised manner at the face in the drawing. It looked strikingly similar to the man who took her in all those years ago if a bit mixed up due to the nature of drawing a face that was slowly degrading in the mind. Sure the black hair was there indicating his young age.

“Dad?!?” Several of the women in the room exclaimed at once in surprise, far more than the young looking girl sitting at the head of the table. A woman with white hair also observes the portrait with a critical eye. While she never met him in person, she did know his face.

“Mom said that he never really looked older than his twenties besides a few wrinkles and his hair grey. With that bamboo hat and despite the inaccuracy of the drawing, he looks like my father.” She remarks as she stares even deeper at the drawing. Her voice is calm and polite along with her manner of speech, the epitome of traditional noble.

“In fact, if I still had the painting that she had of his early days, it would be almost the exact same as this drawing.” She states with an even pace despite being stunned.

___(TOUHOU PROJECT)___

**_Gensyoko: Universal Board Perimeter_ **

**_August 18th, 2003: 1800_ **

“Thank you for accompanying me back, would you like to have some dinner?” He asked with a calm tone. It only took an hour since she started to accompany him to reach the games store. She looked at the strange building, she never saw this type of building in her life, not even at the human village.

“No, I am okay.” She remarks with a passive tone, a brand new shirt now covering her. The earlier one had burned when she scared off some yokai that were too hungry to care if she was leading a person home. The sudden growling of her stomach signaled that she did indeed want to have some dinner despite the antisocial words that came from her mouth.

“Well you are coming in to eat, I insist.” Well, it was refreshing to be on the other side of it… especially when all of his teammates did the same to him. It was the first time he was doing it though. He just dragged her into the home, it was not like she had the physical strength to free herself. Though she could just light herself on fire to get free.

___(TOUHOU PROJECT)___

“Please wait at the table, I will get started on the food now.” He remarks as he leaves her at the table. She looked in a bit of wonder at all the modern things in the home, from the lights to the comfortable temperature that the entire place was set to.

“Hmm.” He hums an indistinct tune as he brings out various ingredients and cooking utensils from the fridge, cabinets, and drawers. Several were what she knew but a majority she didn’t see in her entire life.

“Chicken good with you?” He asks as he finishes washing the rice and places it into the specialized cooker. He starts preparing other ingredients so that they would be done one after another.

“Yeah...” She was a bit surprised at his movements, it was not usual that a young man would cook food… or even knew how to cook for that matter. Well except the chefs that she dealt with way back. He cut through the chicken breast and covered it with some wet towels. He swiftly pounded out the two cuts.

“What are you making?” She asks as he puts some flour, beaten eggs, and breadcrumbs into individual plates. He covers the pieces of chicken with the flours than the egg wash before the breadcrumbs.

“It would be what could be considered Chicken Katsu if you had it before. But what I am making is Hähnchenschnitzel or Chicken Schnitzel.” He remarks as he quickly checks the oil to see if it is hot enough to pan fry the thin pieces of meat. Finding the shimmering liquid not hot enough, he cleans up and sanitizes the things that involved the chicken.

“Hähnchenschnitzel?” She asks the pronunciation a bit off for the german based word. It was definitely a word that she had never heard before. She had Chicken Katsu when she was wandering around in the Meiji era though.

“A german dish of fried meat, the Hähnchen part is chicken while schnitzel is the dish. You could use pork or veal as well to get Schweineschnitzel and Viner Schnitzel respectively.” He remarks as he now finds the oil to be a good heat in order to fry it quickly. The sizzling and cracking of the piece of meat frying smelled great.

“German huh.” He just nods while continually flipping the breaded protein. After a few minutes of doing so, he started on the second one while the first rests on a drying rack.

“So, why do you wander the bamboo forest?” He asked while finishing up the other piece of chicken, letting it rest as he pours out a majority of oil into a container marked with the date. 

“To lead them back to the human village when they come around.” She actively avoids saying what she does a majority of the time in the forest, though wandering through it to lead the lost back home is one of the main ones. If he heard what she stays there for, he would think her crazy.

“Huh, how long you been there?” He asks as he sears some vegetables to go with the rich chicken and the rice. Though if it was only that it would be a bit bland.

“Few hundred years.” She responds with a totally deadpan face, though Desmond felt that she was not even lying past her teeth. Certainly, her movements and the self burning should have suggested that she was immortal.

“Ho? Wandering that ever-changing place with basically the same scenery every day must be a toll on your mind. Though you must be quite good at housekeeping considering you live alone.” She blushes a bit at that. He quickly brings over a pair of plates to start assembling the dinner that they would be eating. Though it was far from much, it was quick enough so that they could eat it quickly.

“Here you are, Hähnchenschnitzel that is basically chicken katsu.” He squeezed on a lime on the chicken and spread some tonkatsu sauce on an empty portion of the plate. The chicken leaned on the rice and meat. They quickly dug into the meal.

___(TOUHOU PROJECT)___

“It is getting late, would you like to sleep in a guest bedroom of mine?” He asked while looking at the moon from the window that they sat beside. They had already finished their meal with a few intermittent conversations.

“I get the feeling that you would force me to stay anyway.” She remarked with a teasing grin on her face. Leaning back into the chair while still observing the moon along with him.

“What can I say, some call me aggressively hospitable.” He also had a smile on his expression, while not to the point of doing this situation before, he did make sure they ate well among other things.

“So yeah, I guess I’ll stay in the guest room… you better not sneak in.” Not that she thought that he would, he felt far too chivalrous to do so, and there were very little things humans that could hide from her insight borne from experience… despite constant moving to avoid being seen through.

“I an a lecherous old man… though if I become one smack some sense into me will ya. I can handle being enigmatic or just plain weird though.” He remarked with a laugh. She looked at him, the stress on lecherous and not old man along with the actions and wording of the evening were making her think that he was far older than he seemed.

“By the way, how old are you?” She asked after getting up from the chair and in the middle of putting her dish in the sink. Desmond put on a mock offended look which was so fake that even a person that closed their eyes to the thoughts of others could tell he was poking fun at the question.

“How rude, I am only 65 years old, and probably will look no older than this… I want to grow a beard damn it!” He joked in an expressive manner, now that the position of being police chief was safely off his shoulders he relaxed far more.

She just laughed at the playfully offended voice of the younger person in the room. It had been a while since she joked around with someone in this manner… it was nice.

“Sides, I would never as the age of another, especially when they probably forgot the specific number…” He winked at the lass. She looked a little surprised at the insinuation of her being at least long-lived if not immortal.

“Well, we are both humans anyway.” He remarked while once again leaning back into the chair with a slightly amused tone, both of them are cursed, yet one experienced far more hardships after it and the other gained it through many hardships. She looked at him in an appraising manner, it was not like she tried to hide her age or anything… it’s just that a majority of the time, no one figured it out… well… if they actually spent more time with her they might notice.

“Well, I will guide you around the living area so you know how to get out.” He stood up and offered the fire girl a hand… with the moon behind him by accident, it was quite the romantic sight for the brash noble.

“Right. Thank you for having me tonight.” She smiled lightly as she used his hand to stand up. He showed her the guest room first then the common bath. He decided to just shower in his own personal room.

___(TOUHOU PROJECT)___

**_Gensyoko: Universal Board Perimeter_ **

**_August 19th, 2003: 0700_ **

“Good morning Eve.” Desmond woke up and went through his regular things for the day, brushing his teeth, cooking breakfast, and setting up the shop. It has been a few weeks since he got to this place and settled into the new routine. Even if no one came in the day, he still had the games around him to play.

“Good morning Mokou.” He states as she finally woke up and reached the hallway to the other living areas of the facility. He was organizing one of the guest rooms in case another case of someone staying over happened.

“Mornin’ Desmond.” Her voice was a bit tired. Sleeping in a new place was hard on anyone who wasn’t trained for it, even Desmond in his active combat service never truly was able to become unfazed by sleeping in an unfamiliar environment.

“Your breakfast is on the table, please enjoy.” She took another look at him, he was not in the strange clothing that she met him in. It was kimono-esque in appearance, quite fitting for a shop keeper… though she wondered if it would be cold for him inside the store.

“I shouldn’t impose.” Her tone and way of speech were far more graceful than last night or any of the times that she was fully awake. Not exactly the most surprising thing to Desmond considering her surname, but with how used he was to her regular speech pattern, he was a tiny bit startled.

“Well, I already made the meal, if you don’t eat it, it will only go to waste.” He remarked after closing the door to accompany her down the hall. She looked over at the young man, at least in her eyes, he looked a lot like someone she knew before but was forgotten in the sands of time. The echo of a man from a village was what came to her mind as she looked at his face once more.

“Right, it would be bad to waste food.” The certain trauma of curling up in hunger while slowly starving yet never having a sweet release from it compelled her to eat. It was happiness to be able to eat her fill. It was hard to go from having more than enough to barely enough to eat at best and dying from starvation. In fact, she was walking through the pain of hunger while walking with him.

The bell rang loud enough that they could hear it. Desmond just smiled lightly before waving at her as he walked back to the front of the store to greet the new customer.

She would be returning back to her home after this, though it was nice to have a well-cooked meal. The first that she had in quite a while. It was not like there were anyone else that would cook for her, and even after hundreds of years alone, she never really got better at cooking things besides roasting them. Though she didn’t really know about the properties of what she ate.

“Hello, Alice.” He greets the blond after coming from the back, she was looking through the hobbyist book section, particularly the occult things that he happened to find in his own world. Despite the shop being a games shop, since he could make almost anything, they could ask for stuff besides what he has in stock. Though he made sure it was not collectible stuff.

“Good morning Desmond. How are you today?” She had a slight smile on her face as she addressed the owner. She was far more relaxed in his presence than when she was here with Marisa the first time. He noticed the deck case strapped to ta purse that she bright with her. Shanghai was looking through various books as well.

Word Count: ~2500

Date Completed: 12/10/2020

Note: Hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Forceful immortal making sure that another immortal doesn’t starve. Next up is Hero And Fighter.

Review Cove:

Nothing huh.


	8. First Steps

A/N: (Note/Disclaimer) All recognizable objects and characters belong to their respective owners. Mainly Team Shanghai Alice for Touhou Project or, as per usual, my own characters belonging to me.

Note 2:

("Common Language [Japanese in this case]/Speech")

(‘Foreign Languages’)

(" _ Thoughts (In their own native tongue)" _ )

**(Attacks/Weapon names)**

_ (Other/Foreign/ Speech & Text/Written, Titles) _

_ (Actions/POV) _

**_(Titles_ ** **/** **_Flashback/Time/Dates/Place)_ **

(Narration & Everything else)

**(“Demonic Speech”)**

**(‘Demonic Thoughts’)**

**A Retired Officer’s Shop In The Eastern Wonderland Chapter 8**

**_Gensokyo_ **

**_August 19th, 2003: 0700_ **

_ Third Person: Omni _

“Just looking through some books?” He asked with a smile on his face as he observed the doll maker. It seemed that she was having a particularly good time today.

“Yeah, these books give me so many ideas in experiments.” Desmond thought to what usual mystic things were… and how dangerous they were in actuality.

“I was wondering, the regular consumption of magic items, are they negative to your health?” He asked with genuine interest… and he would be living for a long time and would like to have others live as long as possible with him.

“Marisa would explain it better to a regular human. But indeed, the ingredients in magic rituals are toxic. I have heard that the Librarian from the Scarlet Devil Mansion is quite ill from when Marisa goes over there to “borrow” some books of theirs.” She explained while touching the grimoire with her. She quickly let go of the piece of literature during the explanation, however.

“Magicians use Eyes Of Newts, and they are made with the inclusion of Mercury and Arsenic. So even youkai Magicians, like myself, would suffer the effects eventually. I haven’t reached that stage myself and it would probably be another eighty years or so before I do if Marisa’s inference of the librarian’s age is correct.”

“I see… Mercury and Arsenic are pretty toxic in long term exposure… have any of you figured out a way to mitigate or negate the symptoms?” He asked while grabbing two basic decks from the Summoner’s Story Isle before giving them to Mokou. She just stared at the objects in her hands.

“Never really thought to… But if what Marisa tells me is correct, it would be a good idea to put that project on a closer date.” She says to herself. It is rather easy for her to have a longer life now that Spell Card Battles are able to keep Gensokyo balanced and not exactly as bloodthirst as it used to be before the miko put the law down.

“Might be a good idea to have a doctor on the research.” He says while putting a set of six booster packs for the other human in the store. Mokou just stares harder at the young man as he keeps adding stuff to her hands. Alice just rolled her eyes while observing the situation, he very much did the same with her when she came back a few times, heck she even got one of the highest rarity of cards through him giving her some packs.

“That would be a good idea… while we do know humanoid anatomy it would be far better to have a good doctor.” Desmond noticed her observation and gave Alice a set of three poster packs. She almost signed with a good-natured smile when he did so.

“So, how have your games been going?” Desmond asked while gesturing to the deck box that she has clipped onto her bag.

“Well, it is a bit stale only fighting Marisa when we are on particular breaks, but it is quite fun. I would enjoy being in a tournament that you would organize at a later date.” She said with a calm tone of voice, now touching the deck of cards.

“Mokou… would you like to know how to play?” Desmond turned to the white-haired woman with them and gestured to the cards in her hands.

“...Sure…” Mokou was just confused as to why he would give her so much stuff. From food, shelter, and now these cards, it was surprising the number of things that have been given to her, it went far past the hospitality of the general citizens when she was wandering Japan in her life.

“Alright then, accompany me to the play table.” He said with a smile on his face, he silently walked to one of the rooms that he designated as a playroom, though it was for more physical games rather than digital. The pair of women and the doll quickly followed him into the inner reaches of the shop. He motioned to a set of screens as they walked into the hallway.

“Those monitors usually display the current public game and highlights when there is nothing going on.” There were actually many such monitors around the main floor, considering the building’s large size, it took several in order to have visibility across the store.

“Since there have been no games inside the shop, I have them empty at the moment, Alice, can we record this match and show it on the screens?” Desmond asked when he placed a card to the electronic shielded lock on the door.

“That would be fine.” She replied, it was not like the cards in her deck would stay static, nor was it the same secrecy as her magics, such as the ones in her grimoire. When he finally opened the door, the lights were already on. Alice notes the same futuristic lights as the ones on the shopping floor, though these were far closer to the ground than the ones in the actual main area, making it far easier to see their strange characteristics.

“There are three different cameras, one on the main playing field and two for the player’s hands, though, in some formats, I will add another camera per player,” Desmond said while motioning to the strange devices at the table, two ergonomic chairs were set up at the felt top game table.

“Today, we will be playing classic, no tournament banned cards, and standard parameters,” Desmond said while bringing out another card, one that signified that he is a player of the game store. It mainly facilitated a way to show wins and losses.

“One second, neither of you have a card yet right?” Desmond said while opening a locked cabinet with his staff card in order to bring out two of the play cards. The nod to confirm his oversight, though he thought he wouldn’t need to pass out play cards till a tournament.

“Come here for a second.” He waved both of them over to him as he placed a card in a machine before closing the lid, a template for information appeared on the computer screen in front of him.

“Alice, can you write your full name in romaji and whatever native writing you write your name with on this pad?” He asked with a gesture to the table while already filling out a few parameters, such as the games she played and how many times she has come to the shop. He gestured to a pad on the desk with a strange pen beside it.

“Sure.” She said while picking up the pen and writing, a fascinating sight of the pen not having any parts that would be used to write with, and still, it changed the surface. She quickly tapped the confirm option after filling out her name, though it was not without her observant eye.

“Please fill out the forum after reading through the terms and agreements,” Desmond said while opening up another window for Mokou’s player information registration. She silently read through the contract, though it was not magically binding at the very least. She silently filled out the general-purpose questions and signed her name before confirming.

“And stand right here.” Desmond pointed over to the wall with another of what he called a camera. She quickly got into place, standing on the line on the floor with the barest idea of what he was about to do. After waiting for a few seconds, she heard a click as Desmond waved her over once more.

“This looks good to you?” He asked while both of the girls observed, on one screen there was an image that was reminiscent of his own card, but with her information and image. The portrait on the actual formatted information screen had her photo taken in a very flattering position with a background of a shelf behind her.

“Sure…?” She said the statement in a questioning tone as he finished up with the information on the second page, a vast majority of the boxes were split between blank spaces and the number zero. He clicked the confirmation button and waited for a few moments, a beep from the machine a few minutes later signaled that her card was done.

“Here you go, Mokou, could you do the same process as Alice?” Desmond revealed the card to her, it was of an aged parchment’s color with all the information that was on the template screen before, her portrait was to the left corner of the card. She made many movements to the card as he finished the standard starting information for Mokou.

“And just like Alice, please stand on that line, back facing the wall.” Desmond said while fitting Mokou’s full name, he felt like the surname was familiar to him for some reason, like a nagging at the back of his mind. Alice tapped the corner of the card while inspecting it, changing the background transparent, a look of surprise took her to a further dive into a researching mentality that she developed over the years.

“Strange, what makes you work…” She mumbled as Desmond finished up with Mokou’s card. The fire woman’s card had a background of crimson with white writing. The background of her own portrait was the bamboo forest. Alice marveled at the card as she repeatedly tapped the card on the corner, going between the clear card and the coloration of aged parchment continuously.

“Alright then, let's get started.” He switched to another page, this one was to archive games and the various intricacies. He stands up and sits in one of the chairs and flips up a receiver on his side of the table, sliding in the card portrait side first into the machine.

“This monitor allows you to look at the opponents screen without physically touching their cards in order to see card effects.” He stated as he mounted a monitor on a stand to his left. On the screen, it displayed the field opposite of himself, waving a hand on his side of the screen to demonstrate the mirror to his view.

“Playmats go into these squares. You can get them as prizes, from starting packs, or buying them from myself for some coins.” He demonstrated with his own, placing a playmat with the images of a futuristic group of people. On it there were various zones, such as a deck, discard, and banished. He then placed another one down on the opposite side of him, this one inspired by the  _ Puppeteer Legend Characters _ .

“Alice, could you repeat the same process as me on the other side.” He said while bringing out his own deck and placing it onto the space. She quickly sat at the other side upon his instruction, opening the player card port on her own side and inserting the aforementioned card.

“Adjust the monitor to somewhere easy to look at,” Desmond said while typing in some stuff on a computer, probably to set up the game’s rules. Alice noticed the various words on the screen beside the feed from the tabletop, such as Phases, and a timer off to the top right. Currently, it had prep with a timer counting down from a minute.

“As you will probably notice, we have 100 hit points in this game mode. Some game modes will take the first number of a card and do 20 damage to win, but for standard game modes, we each have 100 hit points.” It was mainly for the video viewers and Mokou’s benefit that he explained, though Alice was learning some things as well.

“Each character card will have an attack value and a defense value. Some of them will have an effect or flavor text inside of this text box.” He had pulled out an example monster card from a binder in order to show off for all of them. Gesturing to each individual area of attention as he does so.

“Every character card will have an affinity, and up to three affiliations.” He said while bringing out another chart to show off, of course, there were 7 symbols, 2 in the middle and 5 at the outside corners.

“We have elements of the 5 standard elements in eastern magic as well as the inclusion of light and darkness.” He gestured to the symbols, each color-coded while saying the elements they represented. He quickly retrieved 7 cards that correspond with elements.

“As you can see, each of the elements has a theme behind them, such as light having holy figures and darkness are those fallen from grace or demonic. Let's take the Nurse and Night Nurse cards for examples.” He gestured to the pair of cards in question. 

The Nurse card had a border of white, the character in question wore a white apron on top of a button-up shirt and a skirt that went to her knees with knee-high white socks. An attractive young woman had herself sitting in a chair parallel to the viewer, her long black hair was tied into a braid under the uniform’s mobcap. A pair of slim glasses rested on her nose.

The Night Nurse was a young woman with blond hair sitting on a rooftop, looking over to the night skyline. Her dark blond hair was loose while the wind blew, giving motion to her hair and the black long coat that had a red cross emblazoned upon the back with another on the right breast portion. A pair of black pants and a white button-up shirt covered her body. The card itself has a black border.

“From their lore, the Nurse comes from the church while the Night Nurse was excommunicated, though different versions will have different stories as the game progressed. As you can see, there is the affinity in the top right.” He gestured at his examples.

“And finally, we have affiliations, I will be using the nurses once more as an example.” He gestures to the cards once more while tapping the writing on the bottom left corner.

“The Nurse has the affiliations of the Church and Medical Association. The Night Nurse has affiliations with the Medical Association and the Night Watchers. The reason for affiliations is the other card types and other character card effects.”

“The Doctor is a good effect character card to show this, his effect is a buff to all Medical Association Characters, boosting their healing by 10 points.”

“Besides character cards, there are two other cards in Summoner’s story, Active and Trigger cards, Active can be played in certain situations while Trigger cards need a certain way to activate it. Active cards are played by yourself, and Trigger Cards are played when the opposite player does an action.”

“And that will be it for the most basic rules, today I am with Alice Margatroid to play a round of the Classic ruleset. I will explain the effects of cards and certain advanced rulings as we play.” He finished up with a smile before putting all the cards back into the binder and putting them away.

“We will flip a coin, pick heads or tails, the winner decides who goes first.” He gestured to Alice in order to start the selection process, though there were other ways to decide who goes first, this one was easy to understand with minimal knowledge.

“Heads.” She took a moment to think it over, Desmond nods before tapping the monitor, initiating the coin flip. It spun a few times before settling on both of their screens, revealing the head of the coin, a young woman’s side profile.

“Your pick,” Desmond says with a smile while drawing the five initial cards as she thinks. Mokou looks at the pair with interested eyes, it was something that she had not seen before, and it looked like something to stave off boredom in the coming years.

Word Count: ~2700 Words

Date Completed: 2/2/2021

Notes: Sorry for the late chapter, I had school stuff taking up my time, though I don’t know how well my posting schedule will hold up anymore now that I am in my final semester of Highschool and doing various stuff to prepare for college… such as getting money. But I hope you all enjoyed the chapter anyway, I’ll probably be posting a Warped Commander Chat Rooms chapter to make it up sometime this month. I announce stuff in my discord, which you can find in my profile and on Warped Commander’s Summary.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment Cove: 
> 
> FFN: 
> 
> Jackson G-MAN Dragneel: hello I must say that I love your Touhou story, your character Desmond seems very interesting to me. But I have a question. How exactly does your character look, how does he look physically. Who did you rely on? some reference image to see how it looks. PS: sorry my English, it is not my language of origin
> 
> Response: I actually wrote the response in Private Messages.
> 
> Well... I never really based him on anyone or anything in particular so I can't give a reference. He is 6' with black hair and dark brown almost black eyes with calming features. As you could probably guess from the newest chapter, also Japanese. I just made up the entire appearance. One day I will do a complete description for them... though that project is still in muse hell at the moment. There is also the possibility of fanart making me think that "That is what Desmond Looks like." Hope that answered your question. On another note, your English is great, and thank you for enjoying it.
> 
> He is 19-20 years old biologically(When he stopped aging) due to the Mobius Generators slowing his age and then stopping it in the final battle to save his world... I have got a full emotional scene in mind for it so I won't spoil it. He is better off than Kaguya and Mokou who are stuck around 14-15 years old.
> 
> SomeOtaku28: When will Desmond be aquianted with the Spellcard Rules. I mean one of the incentives for me reading fanfics is seeing ocs Spellcards. Granted they aren't mary sue esque which I haven't seen in Desmond... Yet…
> 
> Response: Desmond knows about the spell card rules, just never sat down to actually make some spell cards, though he will be interacting with the Spring Snow Incident.
> 
> On a miss uploaded chapter: Arhimondex: wrong fic my mans
> 
> Response: Thankfully I fixed it quickly, sorry about the trouble.
> 
> Guest: Story is startin to pick up the pace a bit now, good work!
> 
> Response: Well, it will probably jump to spring 2004 after a few more chapters.
> 
> thyfuto: looking good mate story has made the right type of flow. Ive noticed that this story makes it feel more alive the. I also like the fact that time and years going by seems like a pretty good idea. I can see Desmond going through the incidents and meeting the wonderful 2ho girls and what not. I say keep it up keep it alive for as long as it can i would like to see how many people Desmond will meet during each incident :
> 
> Response: Not many actually focus on the alteration of events, just placing a random person at the end of an event or have a one off event if it is focusing on canon characters.
> 
> DeputyJones: Loving it so far! Far too few Touhou fics of quality. Well, far too few Touhou fics period, let's be honest, eh?
> 
> Response: Well, numbers wise no considering there are like 2 thousand on FFN, and it is not like I can say much about the quality of other fics, but hey, I find it fun to write even if it is not one of my more viewed fics.


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